Night After Night
by Mrs. Crocodile
Summary: Whether he's dreaming or haunted, Sylar sees her every night. Spoilers Through: 03x12—Our Father, AU after that. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Heroes, things would be different. But I don't, so don't sue me.

**Author's Note: **This is not in any way something I think could happen or should happen. It's just plain fiction, and it will be completely AU. It starts several days after the end of Episode 03x12.

–

**Night After Night**

Summary: Whether he's dreaming or haunted, Sylar sees her every night..

Spoilers Through: 03x12—Our Father

–

–

**Chapter 1**

_Night 1:_

Sylar woke up in a cold sweat. He could feel that there was something wrong, but it took him a moment to figure out what it was. He looked around the motel room and saw Elle leaning against the wall next to the television. Elle, who he killed, was standing there, smirking, wrapped in a sheet from his bed. "How..."

It was not until she started to walk toward him that he considered the possibility that this woman before him was not Elle, but a shapeshifter. Because Elle was dead, as his brain kept reminding him over and over. Considering that he was pretty much invincible at this point, and that he had always wanted the ability to shapeshift, he decided to see what was going to happen.

She stopped near the bed and hovered over him. "I'm here to haunt you, to torment you for killing me."

He sat up in the bed. "How do you intend to do that?"

She formed a ball of electricity in her hand. "I could do it the old fashioned way. But on the other hand,..." She closed her fist, extinguishing the lightning. "I think there might be better ways."

"Such as?"

She raised her eyebrows and walked back to her place by the television. "Slowly. Go back to sleep. I'll be here in the morning."

Sylar felt a slight tingle run through him. "That's a lie."

She looked surprised for a moment and then smiled. "Yeah, it probably is."

"Are you really Elle?"

She nodded, as though to say that she knew what he was doing. "Yes, I am Elle. The same Elle you set fire to on the beach. And I am _honestly_ here to haunt you. Now go to sleep."

Sylar felt his eyes grow heavy. He wanted to ask how she was doing that, but he was asleep before he knew what was happening. In the morning, Elle was gone, and the sheet she was wearing was back on the bed.

–

_Night 2:_

Sylar awoke again, and this time he knew right where to look. She was standing next to the television, hands behind her back, leaning against the wall. She was wearing a sheet again. The light was dim, but her eyes bore into his. "Do you really it's safe to spend two nights in the same motel? You're kind of a wanted man."

He thought about what she said the night before, and how he would know if she was lying about being Elle. "I'm getting to the point where I feel safe everywhere. I can't be killed."

"Mm, that's true." She came over to him and sat on the bed. "There's probably only one thing that can really hurt you, and that's your mind."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm not a ghost, Gabriel." She held out her arm. "Touch me and see. So, this is probably all a dream. It's probably your own mind that's trying to torture you."

She was still holding her arm out, but he did not touch it. Instead, he used his power to force her on her back with her hands pinned on either side of her head. He really did not know if he was intending to kill her again, and she spoke before he had time to figure it out.

"Is this really what you want? To kill me over and over again? Why do you hate me so much? I loved you, and in return, you killed me."

He released her, but she did not move. "That wasn't a lie," he said.

She pushed herself up on her elbows. "What wasn't? That you killed me?"

He looked away from her. "That you loved me."

"Oh." She stood up. "Well, maybe love is too subjective an emotion to be a lie. Let's try it out. I loved... Noah Bennet. I loved Noah."

He felt the tingle. "No, you didn't."

She smiled and licked her lips. "I loved you."

No tingle. For the first time since he awoke to find her in his room, Sylar felt haunted. He knew what she meant about torturing him slowly. She walked back to her spot and leaned against the wall. It was getting a little creepy the way she did that.

"I'm going to leave you soon. I thought you should know."

Sylar felt himself grow inexplicably sleepy. He closed his eyes for just a second, but he was too tired to open them. He did not open his eyes again until morning. This time the sheet was on the floor where Elle had stood, as though she evaporated into thin air.

–

_Night 3:_

Sylar spent the next night in a new motel, and when he woke in the night, she was there. She was standing as close to that room's television as possible. This time she was wearing the comforter instead of a sheet.

She walked toward him with a small amount of difficulty. "I don't know why you put me in this. It's a little hard to walk in. And kind of itchy."

"So this is all in my head?"

Elle shrugged.

"If it is, you have to do anything I want you to do, right?"

She looked down at him. "If it is, I have to do anything that your _subconscious_ wants me to do."

He wanted to test this by asking her to do something she was not necessarily inclined to do anyway. "Take off the comforter."

She cocked her head to the side. "It would appear that's not what your subconscious wants."

"Right, it wants to torture me, to punish me for killing you. So it manifests you naked and wrapped in a sheet."

She lifted up the bottom of the comforter and sat down, again with some difficulty. "Do you want to try giving me some more orders?"

He got the feeling that she was making fun of him somehow. "My subconscious mind wants you to kiss me."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think you understand how a haunting works. I can't kiss you." She leaned over him and pressed her hands on his chest. He realized that was the first time he had actually made physical contact with her and verified that she was in fact corporeal. She lowered her face until her nose was touching his. "But I can get tantalizingly close."

He moved his head up to kiss her, but she pulled away. "What do you want from me?" he asked.

She sat up straight. "Gabriel, I'm a figment of your imagination."

He felt the tingle again. "That's a lie."

"Is it really, or do you just want it to be? Why would your power work accurately? This is a dream."

"That's a lie, too."

She stood up. "Well, now we're just going around in circles. But if you want so badly to kiss me, why did you kill me?"

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "You know what? We can talk about that tomorrow night." She took her place at the wall. "But please, no more comforters."

Just as both nights before, as soon as she signaled that she was done with him, he fell right to sleep.

–

_Night 4:_

The next day, Sylar ran as far as he could. He woke early and drove all day, taking random exits. Even he lost track of where he was, and when he checked in at a motel, he was surprised to find that he was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

She was there. There was no television in the room, but she leaned against the wall near where it would have been. This time she was wearing his sweatshirt and a pair of underwear. He sighed. "Okay, maybe I believe this is a dream."

"It is weird, isn't it, how I'm always half naked?" She sat on the bed, following the pattern he had come to expect. "Let's talk about these weird, violent, sexual feelings you have for me."

"I don't have weird... feelings for you."

She unzipped the sweatshirt a little more. "Are you sure? Because the last time you kissed me, you killed me. That was the best and worst day of my life. I died on the same day I thought I was learning what it meant to feel alive. That was a strange day."

"I don't want to talk about that day."

"Of course you do. That's why I'm here, to talk about that day, all the days. I save your life once. I gave you a reason to live. You owed me. Do you remember the day you said that to me?"

He took a deep breath. "Yes."

"I asked you to kill me that day, but you wouldn't. You waited until I fell in love with you. And then you killed me, Gabriel. You _killed _me, and you expect to be able to kiss me in your dreams? Have you forgotten already? You're damaged goods, too. You didn't want me anymore; I don't want you anymore."

He felt the tingle when she said she did not want him, but he let it go. "Then why are you here?"

"Because you brought me here!" She spat the words out.

His brain told him that was a lie. "No, that's not why."

"This isn't real."

Another lie. His brain always told him that she was lying whenever she made a reference to it being a dream or being in his mind. "I've killed a lot of people, Elle, and none of them have ever haunted me like this."

"Oh, good. Now I know that I was special to you. Tell me how much remorse you felt after you killed me. Come on, Gabriel, try to convince a figment of your imagination to forgive you."

He did not like it when she was sarcastic. "I don't understand. You never seemed this angry before."

"Yeah, I'm running hot and cold. Kinda like if I'd made love to you, told you you were going to get everything you wanted, and then killed you, all in the same day."

"Does that mean you'll be different tomorrow night?"

She shook her head. "I'm not making any promises that I'll even be here tomorrow night."

He felt himself panic, and he knew that she saw it, too. She smiled. "It's torture, isn't it? I'm new at this haunting thing, but I think it's working."

"I just... Yeah, it's working. I don't want you to go. I never even remember to say goodbye."

"Well, I'm not leaving yet. Not until we talk about why you killed me. I know that my brain was not exposed. So if you gained nothing from it, why did you do it?"

Sylar paused. He knew why he did it, and he knew it was not going to placate her. "I needed to be alone. I just wanted to get rid of you so that I could figure out what was real."

He was surprised when she started to laugh. She laughed long and hard and hysterically. Tears spilled from her eyes, and the laughter turned into sobs. Loud, wracking sobs. It was so painful for him to listen to. In fact, it was torture. He smacked her arm to get her to stop.

She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "Okay, maybe that was a little bit much. It might have been easier if you had just said that you killed me because you're psychotic. Because you could have just told me that you wanted to be alone. You know, maybe given me an option between that and dying. Now you're not alone, and I'm dead."

It tingled. "Say that again."

"What?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That you're dead."

She smiled broadly. "Gladly." She took a deep breath, but he was asleep before she said anything else.

A tall, dark haired woman walked out of the bathroom. She crossed her arms and leaned against the frame. She shook her head at Elle. "You're getting sloppy."

–

–

**Author's Note: **Obviously, there's more coming. But it's exam week and Christmas season, so no promises about prompt updates. This is still based on the theory that he no longer has superhearing and wouldn't hear a heartbeat in the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Night 4:_

A tall, dark haired woman walked out of the bathroom of Sylar's motel room. She crossed her arms and leaned against the frame. She shook her head at Elle. "You're getting sloppy."

"I've been an agent a hell of a lot longer than you have." Elle pushed the woman out of the way and went into the bathroom. She came out dressed and placed the sweatshirt where she found it.

Arms still crossed, the woman, Annie, looked at the sleeping Sylar. "He knows when you're lying. And the more you lie, the more you put both of our lives in danger."

Elle ushered the other woman to the door. "Let's go. I'll fix everything tomorrow."

Annie turned around, nearly bumping into Elle. "Oh, we're not coming back tomorrow."

"We have to, or he'll know something's wrong."

Annie sighed. "You have one day to find a way around saying that you're dead, and if I'm not satisfied, I won't help you."

Elle went around her and opened the door. "Let's go!"

Annie looked at Sylar once more. "I don't think this is going to work," she said as she switched off the light.

–

_Night 5:_

Sylar woke up in a new motel room. Elle was standing exactly where he was expecting, wearing his sweatshirt again. She did not look smug or haunting this time. She just looked sad.

"If I looked through my bag, would that sweatshirt be in it?"

She walked forward, but she stopped well short of the bed. "Of course not; I'm wearing it."

He sat up. "Come here and tell me that you're dead."

She sat on the bed, still looking so sad. "How could you possibly think that I'm not dead? You cut open my head, you poured lighter fluid on me, and then you set me on fire using my own power. I definitely died."

He knew that was true, but that in itself did not prove anything. "That doesn't mean that you _are _dead."

"How many people do you know who came back from the dead? Other than you and Claire, and Peter. I don't have the ability to heal."

"I know Maya came back from the dead when she was injected with Claire's blood."

"Claire did not inject me with her blood." She grew pensive and fiddled with the edge of the bedsheets. "I don't believe there is anyone who would want to bring me back from the dead, and I don't think you believe that either."

He pointed to his head. "Then why did my lie detector go off when you said you were dead?"

She grabbed his wrist. "Has it ever occurred to you that if this is a dream, your mind is just telling you what you want to believe? You want to think that I'm alive because it's easier than living with the knowledge that you killed me because you wanted to be alone. Has it ever occurred to you that your subconscious might be dangling absolution in front of you, only to take it away?"

"No, that has never occurred to me."

She let go of him. "What do you think is more likely? That I'm miraculously alive or that you're going crazy? Bearing in mind, of course, that you were already crazy."

He wanted to fight her more, but he sighed. "I think they're equally likely."

"Okay, I'm not dead. You killed me, and yet somehow you didn't." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but he did not feel any tingles that would indicate she was lying. "I just follow you from motel to motel, stealing your clothes and sheets without you noticing until I'm in position. And somehow you never notice me putting those things back or leaving because... I'm stealthy." She looked around the room. "So now that I've told you everything your brain wants to believe, I guess this dream can end."

"But you're not leaning against the wall."

She smiled. "I think you're forgetting something. I'm saying this whole thing can end now that you've heard what you wanted to hear. Wasn't there something you wanted to say to me?"

Sylar did not even feel himself fall asleep that time. He just woke up, and it was morning. He looked through his bag and found the sweatshirt there. He pressed it to his face and breathed in. It smelled like Elle, but like something else as well, something slightly salty. He dropped it on the floor. It smelled like the beach.

The next night, he woke several times, but Elle was not there. When another night came and went without her, he decided it was time for him to get on with his life, and put Elle out of his mind. He came to the Midwest to kill a man named Gordon Hovey, who had the ability to phase through solid objects, and that was what he was going to do. It was late when he got to his destination in Indiana, and he decided to wait for morning.

On some level, he really expected Elle to show up that night. She was like the conscience he never had, and with his intention to kill in the morning, she should have been there. But she wasn't.

–

_Night 11:_

Sylar was headed back to Costa Verde because there was a boy there who could fly. He did not want to go back to the place where he killed Elle, but this boy would be a lot easier to approach than Senator Petrelli, and flying would really come in handy. He spent the night well outside the city limits.

He awoke that night to find Elle sitting cross-legged on the bed, flipping through a textbook of some kind. "You came back."

She looked up from the book. "How could I not? Look where we are. Obviously, I've been very much on your mind."

"I didn't come to Costa Verde because of you."

"No, I think you specifically stayed out of Costa Verde because of me." She went back to reading.

He could not think of anything to say to her. She had always led the conversation before. "You're wearing clothes."

She kept her eyes on the book. "Well, they're pajamas, so I don't know if that counts."

"They're not mine."

"Really?" She pulled at the shirt. "They're not mine, either. I mean, this looks like it's from a high school. I didn't even go to high school."

He looked more closely at the mascot on her chest. "That's from my high school. I don't remember that shirt, but we were the lions, and those were our colors."

"I guess that explains it." She lifted up the book and showed him the page. It was a medical book he had left in his apartment in Queens. "What do you see in this brain?"

He grabbed the book from her. "Where did you get this?"

"The company cleaned out your apartment after you went on that first killing spree. So I either got it from them, if we're still pretending I'm alive, or from your mind."

He flipped through the pages. The book was full of rich medical detail. "There's no way my mind would be able to conjure all of this."

She took the book from him and laid it on the nightstand. "The brain is a remarkable thing, but I assume you already know that."

"So the book, the shirt. Does tonight have a theme?"

"Maybe. Sure, it's things you left behind in New York. The apartment, high school, your mother. Why did you kill your mother?"

Sylar did not think about his mother very much anymore. It was still a painful memory for him. "It was an accident. I was just trying to make her understand, and she... Please don't make me relive that."

Her face softened for a moment. She looked down at her lap, and when she raised her head again, her face was unsympathetic. "I'm not making you do anything, Gabriel. If you don't want me here, send me away."

Sylar rubbed his face. "I do want... No, I want... I don't know anymore. I killed someone, Elle."

"I know," she said as though she was talking to a child. "You killed me, your mother, my father, a whole slew of other people."

"No, I mean, a few days ago, I-"

She did not even appear to be listening. "You told me that you didn't want to kill any of them. You weren't going to let your power control you anymore. What happened to that?"

"They came back and-"

She shook her head. "No, you said that when you still had them. The change you went through had nothing to do with losing your powers, so stop pretending like it did."

Knowing that Arthur and Angela were not his parents, Sylar had put aside all of those feeling of wanting to change and make them happy. Elle was right, though. It really had nothing to do with the eclipse. "What is your goal in all of this? What's your plan?"

"It's not my plan. But I think the goal is to leave you tortured by guilt and grief. To get you to a point where you are driven so insane that you can barely function anymore." Her eyes brightened. "Maybe you'll even try to kill yourself again, and instead of shooting down the rope, this time I'll hand it to you." She lay sideways across his chest. "Oh, you look so sad. That might have been a little harsh."

"Do you really want me to kill myself?"

She leaned closer and tapped his forehead. "I'm not entirely privy to the plan," she said in a conspiratorial tone.

"Right, this is all in my head."

She smiled. "I think we've determined that is the most logical explanation."

She sat up, and he put his hand around the back of her neck to keep her from moving farther away from him. "Then I really don't see why I can't have one kiss."

She lowered her head hesitantly. He could see that she was unsure what to do. It was little looks like that that made him think this could not be all in his head. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and pulled back. "There."

"I was actually thinking of something along the lines of this." With his hand still on the back of her neck, he pulled her down on top of him and kissed her full on the mouth. It was not that he even cared about the kissing so much; he was just trying to determine what was going on with Elle. She let him kiss her for a few seconds before pulling back.

Elle looked at him with wide eyes. She took a couple deep breaths and licked her lips, but she did not say anything. She started to lower her head again, and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Night 11:_

Knowing it was the wrong thing to do, Elle moved to kiss Sylar again. His eyes closed and his head turned. "Gabriel?" He did not respond. She zapped him with electricity to see if he was unconscious, and he was. She turned to look at the bathroom where Annie was coming out. "Why did you put him to sleep?"

Annie crossed her arms. She always crossed her arms. "The assignment isn't for you to have sex with him."

Elle got up from the bed. "The assignment is for me to use my discretion."

"Oh, you are severely mistaken if you think Mrs. Petrelli trusts you or your discretion. In fact, I was told to use my discretion and cut this off whenever it looked like you might be getting soft on him. And, by the way, that's what it looks like."

Elle looked at Gabriel. Sylar, she reminded herself. "At this point, anything I do will torture him. If I'm here, if I'm not. If I kiss him, if I don't. We're really close to breaking him down."

"And that's great, but the company needs to know where your loyalties lie. So tomorrow, you are going to tell him that you don't love or want him anymore. Don't say maybe or probably or ask if it's ever occurred to him. You state it as a fact, and if he says that you're lying, I'm not bringing you back again."

Elle was pretty sure that he would say she was lying if she said those things to him. However, she did not see why that should mean that she was unable to do her job anymore. "Are those your orders or your discretion?"

Annie smiled condescendingly. "A little bit of both."

Okay, Elle decided. She would see how the next night went, and if he did detect a lie, then she would have to work on Annie to make her understand that it changed nothing. Of course, Elle had not come to know Annie to be a particularly reasonable person. "All right, then. Let's get out of here."

Annie picked the medical book off the table. "You see what I mean about being sloppy?"

–

_Night 12_:

Sylar did not kill West Rosen that day. He went into town, saw Rosen leaving school, and even saw him fly, but Sylar could not get Elle's voice out of his head. Instead of pulling the kid out of the sky and taking his ability, Sylar went to the beach, to the place where he killed Elle. He half expected to find her charred body still lying there. But, of course, after two weeks, it wasn't there anymore, and she probably was not even dead.

That night, Elle was back in her spot against the wall, wrapped in a sheet. She shook her finger at him. "I told you that, after what you did to me, you don't get to kiss me in your dreams, but you managed to sneak one in anyway. And now we've backtracked." She gestured to the sheet.

He propped himself up on his side. "I don't see how you going from being clothed to being naked is supposed to punish me for kissing you."

She shrugged. "I don't get that either. But there is to be no physical contact tonight." This was the point where she would normally walk over to him, but she stayed put. "I know you didn't kill the flying boy today."

Sylar almost told her that he intended to kill the kid the next day, but he stopped himself. He was still thinking of her as his conscience, and he had forgotten for a moment that he did not believe she was actually a figment of his imagination. "Does that make you happy?"

"Oh, I couldn't care less, but it does make me happy that you went back to our beach. It makes me happy that you are haunted by my memory, tortured. Instead of getting a new power, you reveled in pain and remorse. That makes me happy."

"I just wanted to see if you were still dead."

Elle tisked. "I don't need a lie detector in my head to know that's not true. Because you know that by now my body would have been taken to the morgue, and if you wanted to see it to confirm that I'm dead, that's where you would have gone."

He scooted over and sat on the edge of the bed. "So if I went to the morgue, would your body be there?"

"There would be a Jane Doe who is charred beyond recognition, but whether it's me or not..." She shrugged.

"That's convenient."

She grinned. "It's _very _convenient, but you're the one who set me on fire. So it's not my fault if you can't identify my body."

He realized that it was actually convenient for him as well. This way, he could see her body and still convince himself she was alive. "What are we going to talk about today?"

She pretended to think about it. "Well, you still haven't explained to me why you killed your mother."

"That's not what we're going to talk about."

"Okay. Then tell me why you killed my father. Was it all about power, or did you do it to hurt me?"

"If you're a part of my subconscious, wouldn't you already know the answer to all of these questions?"

She took a couple steps toward him. "I'm not here for answers; I'm here to get inside your head and drive you insane."

Sylar had no problem talking about her father. It was a much less horrifying memory than the death of his mother. "I killed your father for both of the reasons you said. Obviously, I wanted power, and I wanted to hurt you. But above that, he was the one in control of the Shanti Virus. I don't know that he gave the order for me to be injected, but-"

"If he did, then he also gave the order for your life to be saved after you were run through with a sword," she pointed out.

Sylar had never actually thought about it like that before. "Why would he do that?"

"Have you ever noticed that no one associated with the company ever tries to kill you? Bennet wanted to, but he was always given orders not to. Angela and Arthur were more interested in controlling you than neutralizing you. They don't want you dead; you're too powerful a weapon. But they need you under their thumb. Otherwise you're useless."

She was making a lot of sense. "Bennet tried to kill me. In fact, he did kill me that same day I killed your father. I just happened to be able to heal."

"Bennet was a prisoner then, not an agent. And with my father dead, there was no one to give the order to keep you alive. Until Angela showed up."

"Should you really be telling me all this about the company wanting to control me?"

She shrugged and kicked the bottom of the sheet around with her feet. "I'm only telling you what you already know on some level. Bennet implied all of this when he told you they were using your mother issues against you. That's what your subconscious is there for, to piece it all together."

"But if you were alive..." He was thinking that she was well funded. She had the book, the shirt from his high school, and the ability to track him anywhere. That would mean that she was working for the company, and she was giving away what they wanted. He stopped himself from saying any of this because if she was working for the company, that meant she also had a partner hiding somewhere.

She took a few steps closer so that she was standing right in front of him. "Yes?"

He wanted to change the subject. "What happened to the no physical contact rule?"

She held up her hands, while pressing her upper arms against her sides to keep the sheet from falling. "I'm not making physical contact."

He put his hands on her hips. "If I tried to kiss you again, how would you punish me this time."

"I'm not going to kiss you again. Let me make this clear. I may have loved you before, but you killed me. I don't love you anymore, and I don't want you anymore."

For the first time that night, he felt the tingle of a lie. "You're lying."

She pushed his hands off her hips and took a step back. "No, I'm not. I don't know a lot about love, but you killed me, for a horrible reason. Love cannot survive that. All I want is to hurt you the way you hurt me. I have no feelings left for you."

She had so much conviction in her voice, but he knew she was still lying when she said she had no feelings for him. He grabbed her by the waist and sat her forcibly on the bed. "I understand why you are saying that, but I don't believe you."

"You don't want to believe me! How many times have we been through this? Your mind is just telling you what you want to hear. Listen to me and know that this is true. I don't love you. I don't want to be with you. I want to destroy you and move on with my existence."

He listened to her, but it did not have the effect she wanted. "No, you don't even want to destroy me," he said in amazement.

"You know, I think it's time for me to go. You're only hearing what you want to hear. Maybe we can try this again tomorrow night. Or maybe I should stay away. It was just this place. I couldn't not come back to you in Costa Verde."

He looked in her eyes. "Goodbye. I remembered to say it this time. Goodbye, Elle."

She smiled at him in a way that undermined everything she had been trying to say before. "I'm glad you remembered because I don't think I'm going to be back."

He slid back on the bed. "I'm going to lie down so I don't get a concussion."

The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Elle smiling serenely at him.

–

In the morning, Elle woke up in the motel room with her head resting on Sylar's chest and no memory of how that had happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** If you think about it, Sylar was different in Season One than he is now. I want my Sylar to find a balance and be a bit more like he was in Season One. He's killing, and he doesn't care anymore. In this chapter especially, I was trying to find that balance.

So, everything changes here, because I realized the haunting would get repetitive and stale quickly, but I still have a plan.

–

–

**Chapter 4:**

Elle jumped out of the bed and adjusted the sheet so that it was covering her completely again. She ran to the bathroom, but it was empty. No Annie, no clothes.

She came out of the bathroom and found Sylar watching her. "Can I see my cell phone?"

He pointed to the closet alcove next to her. "It's in my pants pocket."

She pulled out the phone and scrolled though the list. She found the listing for Anna Delgado and pushed the call button. She held up her finger to Sylar as she listened to it ring.

Annie finally answered, and Elle turned her back on Sylar. "What the hell, Annie?"

"Come on, Elle. What choice did I have? You told him what the company wanted, and you basically told him you were still in love with him and that you don't really want to destroy him. My orders were to leave you behind if you got soft, and you did."

"You took my clothes!"

"They weren't your clothes, Elle. They belong to the company. Mrs. Petrelli was clear. You had one chance, and you blew it. You're cut off. We really don't care if he kills you again. In fact, I hope he does."

Elle turned around to look Sylar in the eye. She let the silence linger for a moment. "Just so you know, I'm going to help him hunt you down. I know where you live, and I'm going to enjoy watching him kill you." She snapped the phone shut and threw it on the bed. "You might want to get rid of that; it's how we've been tracking you."

Sylar smirked at her. "So I guess it wasn't all in my head."

She rubbed her hands together. "Listen, um, could you not kill me again? Because Angela was very clear that I only get one injection of cheerleader blood." She went back to the closet and pulled out his bag. "I can help you," she said as she went through his clothes. Most of his shirts were button-ups and wifebeaters, so she put on his sweatshirt again. "We have to get out of here though, because they know you're here."

He sat up. "How do I know this isn't just part of the plan? Because if it is, it was an excellent plan."

He was right. That would have been an excellent plan, which just showed that he was one step ahead of Angela. She walked up to the bed. "Here's how you know. This wasn't part of the plan. I had no idea Annie was going to leave me here. But I guess you'll really know when I let you kill her."

"Yeah, Elle, I'm not entirely comfortable with-"

Elle climbed onto the bed. "That bitch just told me she hopes you kill me again. Don't you want to be able to do what she can do?" She straddled him. "You can pin her to the wall. I'll shock her a little, not enough to kill her, just enough to torture her, you know, the old fashioned way. And then you can cut open her head and take her power." She got up and started pacing. "Did I ever tell you that I've been clinically diagnosed as a sociopath with paranoid delusions? If you want to be this guy, let's go for it."

"The last time we worked together, I killed you."

Sylar was a little alarmed by the intensity burning in her eyes when she turned to look at him. "But now you realize that was a mistake, right? You're not going to do that again."

"I'm a little scared of you right now," he said.

"Good." She went back to pacing.

He got out of bed and took hold of her shoulders. "Elle, I'll gladly kill what's-her-name. I do want her power. But you need to calm down. This isn't who you are. I'm not going to kill you, mostly because I already have your power, but I am going to leave you behind."

She nodded and broke his grip. She walked over to the bed and zapped her cell phone with an electric burst. "Now the only list is in my head." She picked up the fried phone and threw it in the trashcan. "You could try to extract it from me, but I don't think your power works that way."

He flexed his jaw. "It doesn't."

She smiled. "Then I guess you need me."

There was no way he was taking her with him. "So you want to team up with me so that we can kill your last partner. Shouldn't I be worried about how quickly your loyalties change?"

"Yeah, you should. Don't cross me again. I forgave you for killing my father, clearly. I'm willing to forgive you for killing me, because I always knew you were psychotic. But I am out of forgiveness, so don't even think about betraying me."

He tried to come up with another argument. "When I'm around you... Your love has a tendency to stifle me. I'm never quite this guy when I'm with you."

She nodded very seriously. "I know, and I'm going to work on not stifling you anymore. I'm not just going to help you hunt down Annie. I'll help you become the man you want to be. There's a shapeshifter in Calgary. I can take you to him. You want West's ability to fly? We'll come back for him. But we have to leave Costa Verde before they come for us. They are probably just biding their time until they come up with a new plan."

Sylar looked around. "Maybe we should be discussing this in the car. Are you sure the cell phone is the only way they were tracking me?"

"It's the only way I know of. But, no, I'm not sure."

It occurred to him then that she had not lied to him once that morning. He would know if she had. "Did you know that they weren't my parents?"

Elle knelt down and started stuffing his clothes into the bag. "I thought it was really unlikely, but I don't think Bennet even knew for sure. Powers are genetic, so... I didn't want to get involved."

He was satisfied by her answer. "I'm going to need to get dressed."

She assessed what he was wearing, which was boxers and a black wifebeater, and threw him last night's pants. "Go check out. Tell them it's an emergency. I'll pack the car."

"And you're not going to put a tracking device on any of my stuff? The bag, the car, nothing?"

"No, I'm not going to... You have trust issues."

He did not see how she had given him any reason to trust her. "Just say it."

"I am not going to put a tracking device anywhere on your person or property, nor will I put one on my person or prop—I don't have any property. Now go."

Sue Landers had made this power sound like a bad thing, but Sylar had found nothing but solace in knowing the truth. He was about to leave the room when something occurred to him. "What if they're already out there, waiting with tranquilizer guns? What if Bennet has a sniper rifle trained at the door ready to blow my head off?"

Elle stood up. "I don't know."

"You go out first." She started for the door, but he grabbed her arm. "Wait, no." He tried to think of a plan. "First of all, put on some pants."

"I don't have any pants."

"Well, put on boxers or something. You can't go out there in your underwear."

Elle huffed. "Fine." She dumped the clothes out of the bag again, and pulled on some boxers.

He took off his wifebeater. "Okay, shock me enough to kill a normal person and go out and surrender to them."

She looked at him like he was crazy. "You want me to surrender to people who probably aren't there?"

"Yeah, because if they are there, you'll do me a lot more good inside the company. Come on, just do it."

She picked up the gun that had fallen out of his bag. "I don't want to set the room on fire, so I have a better idea." She shot him twice in the chest.

He fell back against the bed. When he regained consciousness, he heard her yelling outside the room. "If anyone wants Sylar, he's momentarily down!" There was no reply. "So you bastards really left me here to die? Because I am a good agent, and I'm willing to forgive and forget!"

She came back in the room and kicked the door shut. "There's no one out there. Go check out, I'll be waiting in the car."

He pulled his shirt back on. "How is shooting me a better idea?"

She smiled enigmatically. "You'll see."

The second he walked out the door, Sylar ran into a man who was trying to look into the room. "What's going on here?" the man asked.

"There _someone _out here," he called back to Elle. He smiled at the man. "Sir, we're federal agents, and everything is under control. My partner will answer any questions you have." He walked around the man and left Elle to clean up her own mess.

Elle came out with the gun in hand. "I'm sorry if we alarmed you. Mr. Sylar has been wanted by the F.B.I. for a long time. To give you some idea of what we're dealing with, he plotted to set off a nuclear explosion in New York City last year. Fortunately, we were able to thwart that plan, but he was still... dangerous. Now, he's been taken care of."

"What was that stuff about leaving you here to die?"

Elle laughed, embarrassed. "Oh, I just really thought there was going to be back-up out here. And I got a little worked up when I realized they hadn't shown up. So, if you will just go back into your room, we will-" She turned her head. "Did you hear that?"

Elle opened the door and pointed the gun inside. She knew the man was watching so she made a show of checking the bathroom and looking out the window she had purposely opened and knocked the frame out of. She came back to the door, carrying the bag with her. With perfect timing, Sylar was on his way back to the room. "Sylar's gone," she said.

He looked confused, and it worked. "What?"

"He went out the window. I shot him twice in the chest. How...?"

Elle almost broke character when the man from the next room nodded. "Kevlar," he said as though he saw it all the time.

She held onto her composure and went to the car. Throwing the bag in the backseat, she looked at their neighbor over the car door. "Sir, go back in your room. Everything is going to be fine."

The man did so with an earnest expression on his face. "This was probably the best day of his life," she told Sylar as he slid into the driver's seat and started the car. "And that's why shooting you was a better idea. If I had to surrender, it had to be in a way that would make sense."

"He could have called the police."

Elle sighed. "I have been training to be an agent my entire life. Why do you people always doubt me? I handled that situation. Having me shock you and surrender was a halfway good plan, shooting you was a better one. I also took the company's really mediocre plan and almost drove you to the point of insanity with it. I'm a good agent."

He pulled out into the road and headed away from Costa Verde. "I'm dropping you off at the next gas station."

"Why?"

"Because you're a liability. And I killed you for a reason."

She scoffed. "Barely."

He looked at her. "Barely what?"

"It was barely a reason."

"I didn't want a partner. I work alone." They found a gas station faster than Elle expected. Sylar pulled into the parking lot. "Get out of the car."

–

–

**Author's Note**: Please don't be lulled into a false sense of prompt updates, because there are still no guarantees. I just wanted to have it established up to a certain point before the new episode.


	5. Chapter 5

**UPDATED Author's Note: **This was written prior to Volume Four. When I use the term "shapeshifter" to refer to the man in Calgary, I mean illusion like Candice had, not what the geometry teacher in 03x21 could do.

--

--

**Chapter 5:**

Elle stayed in the car. "So it was okay with you when the doctors Suresh were leading you to victims, but not when it's me?"

"That was a completely different situation." Sylar turned in his seat. "Elle, I have another halfway good plan, and I think you might be able to make it work."

She was skeptical to say the least. "Does this halfway good plan involve abandoning me at a gas station?"

He leaned across the gearshift and kissed her long and deeply. "I'm not betraying you or crossing you. I really want you back in the company so that you can help me. They have abducted me, lied to me, tried to haunt me. The way you said it, the company is never going to stop trying to control me. If you stay with me, I will eventually want to kill you, just like I did with the doctors Suresh, one more successfully than the other. I'm not a nice guy, Elle; I don't play well with others. But I would love to have an ally in the company."

Elle sighed. "I can't help but get the feeling that you're trying to get rid of me. I have no way of even getting in touch with you. You don't have a cell phone anymore. You're just going to leave me here, and..." She felt herself getting choked up, so she just stopped talking.

Sylar got out of the car without saying a word. He went into the convenience store, but Elle did not follow him. She sat there waiting, figuring he would not leave the car behind. Several minutes later, he came out with a bag. He got back into the car and pulled out a prepaid cell phone. He wrote the phone number on the back of his receipt. "Call me when you know that you're in or when you know that you're not. If you can't get back in with the company, I will come get you, and we can go on the run together. But this partnership will be a lot more successful if you're with the company."

Elle ripped the receipt in half. She placed the part with his number on it in the pocket of the sweatshirt, and on the other half, she wrote a name. "This is the shapeshifter in Calgary. I don't know the address, but he lives in the Downtown West End in a condo overlooking a big river." She wrote that under the name. "I'm not going to tell you where to find Annie because it'll hurt my chances of getting back in."

Sylar looked at the piece of paper she had pressed into his hand. "Elle, you don't have to find me people with powers. I just want you to spy on the company for me. You have to go now, the longer you wait, the harder it's going to be to convince them."

Elle still did not want to get out of the car. She put her hand on the door handle, but she did not open it. "Aren't there things that we need to discuss before you send me away?"

"Probably, but we don't have a lot of time."

"I don't believe you. I don't believe that you actually think I'll help you once I'm back in the company. You think I'm just going to do what I always do, be a company girl. You've never even said it back."

He furrowed his brow. "Said what?"

"That you l—have feelings for me. And not just wanting to kiss me when you have nothing better to do, but real feelings, of substance. I mean, you killed me. How can I... believe that you'll ever come back for me? If you're just trying to get rid of me again, that makes a difference on how I handle this."

"I'm not going to tell you that I have feelings of substance for you, Elle. That's just going to complicate things. But I'm not... I think you are better off with the company, either way."

"The company that left me here to die. The official word was they didn't care if you killed me. I think that would have cleaned up a loose end for them. I had one chance, and I blew it. It'll be nearly impossible to get my job back anyway. Those people at the company, none of them care about me. So it won't complicate anything if you say it; it will actually make things a lot simpler for me. If you tell me that you care about me, I will be completely loyal to you."

He looked at the paper again. "I don't care about anyone; I only care about power. So let's not talk about the best case scenario where we live happily ever after. Worst case scenario, I'm using you and the fact that you still have feelings for me to get information about the company. I'm not trying to get rid of you because I can finally trust you. Without this ability, yeah, I would dump you here and never see you again. But I know when you're lying, so this partnership can work."

Elle thought about what he was saying and how easy it would have been for him to tell her what she wanted to hear. He surprised her by speaking again. "There is one thing I think should be said."

"What is that?"

"I did regret killing you, and I glad you're alive."

There was one thing that barred Elle from completely forgiving him, one question that bothered her. "Then why didn't you bring me back? Your blood can do the same thing as Claire's, and you knew about that because you saw it happen to Maya, the girlfriend you wanted to save, apparently."

"That did occur to me, but I would've had to find a way to draw my blood and then inject it into you. And after going through all of that, what would I do with you? I killed you, so that bridge was burned. I just didn't see the point of trying to bring you back." He took a hold of her hand. "Do you see why we're better apart than together?"

She tried to appreciate his honesty, but she did notice how he avoided the topic of Maya. "Yeah."

He handed her some quarters from his pocket. "Here. Whatever you decide to do, just give me a head start before you call them."

Elle rubbed her forehead. "No, I'll do this for you. Just cut me or something to make the story better."

"Why would I cut you?"

"Maybe you threw something at me with your mind, and it winged me."

"If I wanted to stop you from leaving, I would just stop you."

Elle thought about that. "Then choke me. Get a good hand print on my neck."

Sylar looked at her neck as though he was tempted. "I can choke you without using my hands. Just say I did it."

"Well, I want to have some mark." She pulled her arm out of the sweatshirt through the neck hole. "At the very least, will you grab my arm really hard?"

He put his hand around her forearm, but he did not use a strong grip. "Dig your nails in. Come on, I shot you. Twice." She waited until it started to hurt, and then ripped her arm away. It left her with three scratches that were not quite bleeding. She stuffed her arm back in the shirt. "Good enough."

Elle knew that it was time to stop delaying the inevitable, so she got out of the car. Before closing the door, she leaned in and said, "And by the way, I don't have any real feelings for you either," knowing he would not believe her.

He smiled and put car in reverse. Elle watched him drive away. She sat on the curb. She was barely wearing any clothes and all she had to her name was a dollar seventy-five. She was waiting, to give Sylar the head start he wanted, but she noticed that a man was watching her while he was pumping gas.

He walked over and stood looming over her. "Is your boyfriend coming back?"

She looked straight up at him. "Nope."

"Sounded like you two had quite a fight. I heard you saying that you never really liked him."

The man was middle aged and balding. He looked just enough like her father that it was really disturbing the way he looked at her. "I didn't mean it. I was just mad because he was leaving me here."

"Do you live around here?"

Elle stood up. "No, we're from New York. I have an uncle in Costa Verde though. My boyfriend, ex-boyfriend I guess, gave me quarters so that I can call him, but I don't know the number."

"Well, shoot, I can give you a ride into town. Do you know how to get to your uncle's house?"

Elle did not trust this man at all, but she figured she could handle him. "Yeah. Would you? That would be great. I'm Elle, by the way."

"Karl." He shook her hand and led her back to his car. Once she was buckled in, he asked, "Are you in school?"

He was really creepy, but at least he was heading in the right direction. "No." She smiled. "I work in quality control at a paper company. Very boring work."

"And what does your boyfriend do?"

"He's a watch repairman. He has his own shop in the city. New York City, I mean. That's how we met actually. My watch was broken." She forced herself to smile at the memory. "Oh, take a left at the light."

Elle was not surprised when he "missed" the turn. She knew it was time to make herself seem really undesirable. "I don't really blame him for leaving me. I was nightmare."

He patted her hand. "I'm sure that's not true."

"Oh, no, it is. I was manipulative and demanding. I would hit on other men, including his brother, to make him jealous. I accused him of cheating on me when I didn't really believe it. And I faked a pregnancy, which I guess was the last straw. The man was really kind of a saint for putting up with me. I was just so crazy in love with him that it made me... crazy."

Karl took the next left and got back on track. They sat there in an awkward silence that was only broken when Elle told him where to turn. Eventually, she said, "I probably shouldn't have told you all that. You probably think I'm a nutjob."

"No," he said a little too emphatically. "Just misguided. The folly of youth, right?"

"Yeah. Oh, that's the house. The third one there."

Karl pulled into the driveway. "I'll just wait here to make sure you get in okay."

"Um, okay. They might not be that excited to see me. So just be aware of that. Thank you so much for the ride." She jumped out of the car.

Elle felt that she should have approached the house with her hands in the air to show her good will, but knowing that a civilian was watching made that impossible. She rang the doorbell.

Sandra Bennet answered the door. She tried to close it again, but Elle got her foot in the door. She waved to Karl to leave, although she doubted he would. "Hi, Mrs. Bennet. Gosh, I'm really sorry about taking you hostage before, and I'm not here to hurt you. I just need to talk to your husband. He'll know why."

Sandra slammed the door into Elle's foot. When Elle reflexively pulled it back, she closed the door. Elle knocked again. "I really need to talk to Noah!" she called.

She closed her eyes and sighed when she heard a car door shut. Karl showed up behind her. "Is there a problem here?"

"Sir, I really appreciate your help, but this is a difficult family situation, and--"

The door opened again, and Sandra pointed a gun at Elle. "Get off my property."

Karl tried to push in front of Elle. "Holy crap, lady, what's wrong with you?"

Elle elbowed him back. "She has a right to be angry. I shot at her daughter. It's very complicated."

"You _shot _my daughter. She almost died."

"Claire threw herself in front of the bullet, but that's not important. I was following orders. That's all I've ever done. And I'm working with Noah again, so I'm not a threat to you or Claire. Just tell me where to find Noah."

Karl tapped Elle on the shoulder. "I thought you worked in a paper company."

Sandra looked at him. "Yeah, I heard that lie for fifteen years."

"Paper company is a euphemism. I worked for a man you might have heard of named Linderman." She saw in his expression that Karl had heard of Linderman. "Well, after his death, the organization splintered. But Noah and I are on the same side again," she said to Sandra. "Call him and ask."

Karl was backing away. "I don't want any problems from the Mob."

Elle did not look away from Sandra. She just waved again. "And we don't want any from you. Thanks for the ride though."

Sandra closed the door in Elle's face again. "Are you calling Noah?" Elle asked through the door. When there was no answer, Elle sat in the grass. Noah would have to come home eventually, and in the meantime, she was not really afraid of Sandra Bennet.

--

--

**Author's Note**: To be clear, that thing about Maya was just Elle's jealousy. I'm not implying that there's any Sylar/Maya coming up. I love Syler/Elle as a couple. I loved the idea of them from pretty much the moment she killed Irish Ricky, or at least since she told Peter she was a sociopath. This is definitely heading in a Syelle direction, but I think it's too soon for them to have any kind of successful relationship.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **I'm still thinking about the last episode. I may end up going with what happened at Pinehearst as what happened in my story. I really did not know how I wanted the Nathan storyline to resolve. So for right now, and unless I say otherwise, the stuff at Pinehearst with Nathan and Peter happened in this story. The stuff with the President, however, did not (or will not, because it's been just about three weeks at this point.)

**--**

**--**

**Chapter 6:**

Noah Bennet pulled into the driveway an hour later. He walked up to Elle with his gun drawn. It occurred to Elle then how much destruction she had caused their family. She remained seated and held her hands up. "I just want to talk."

Noah kept the gun pointed at her. "So talk."

"Annie abandoned me in Sylar's motel room last night. He choked me to try to get information, but in the end, he decided not to kill me because I didn't have anything he wanted. So I ran out and hitchhiked here because it was the only place I could think of to go. Thank god we were in Costa Verde."

"And what do you expect to happen now?"

Elle put her hands in her lap. "You were the one who thought I might be useful because of my history with Sylar. I never thought that breaking him down was the best way to use that. Now, I've failed Annie's loyalty test, and he knows that. I think I might still be useful to this company. We still have that history, and he didn't even try to kill me when he easily could have."

Noah holstered his weapon, warily. "So what's your plan?"

"I don't exactly have one yet. But Sylar now believes I'm in love with him and I have no desire to destroy him. I'm sure we can figure out something we can do with that."

He held out his hand to help her to her feet. "Let's discuss this in the house. You go first."

Elle understood why he would not want to turn his back on her, but going in first did not work for her. "You need to go first and tell your wife not to shoot me."

Noah kept Elle in front of him as he opened the door. "Sandra, everything is okay. I'm bringing Elle in." He pushed Elle into the kitchen and turned on the water in the sink. He picked up the hose. "I'm going to spray you down for my own protection."

Before Elle had even registered the words, he started spraying freezing cold water on her. It was a little humiliating, but she doubted that Noah cared. It occurred to her that she could half-ass this whole thing and tell Sylar she was sorry it didn't work, but on some level she knew he was right. They were better apart. Between the lies and betrayals and trying to kill each other, there was no happy ending. So she needed to be here where she could actually do him some good.

When she had been wetted down to Noah's satisfaction, he turned off the water and sat at the counter. "Sylar is killing people as we speak. He needs to be neutralized now. I was never entirely in favor of Angela's plan either, but the fact is, he only killed one person while you were... haunting him. We need a plan that will bring him down immediately."

"I think rushing in is sloppy. He's smart, and he's really dangerous. To be honest, I think Angela is wrong to want to keep him alive. I don't believe he can be controlled."

Noah smiled. "Why, Elle, I'm surprised to hear you say that. You're the one who was so in love with him that you blew the mission."

"Yeah, I am. But this has nothing to do with that. I'm just being realistic. I'm telling you why I don't have a plan to help Angela control him. Because I don't think it can be done. And once he is under her control, what's going to keep him there? He's too dangerous."

"I agree. I have always felt that the only way to deal with Sylar is to eliminate him. Are you willing to work against Angela to accomplish that?"

"No, I am going to follow Angela's orders to the bitter end, because I really need this job. But I won't tell her that you asked me that." She took a few steps closer to him. "And I won't try to stop you if you get the opportunity to kill him again."

Noah regarded her for a moment before pulling out his phone. "Let's call Angela and see what she has to say about you."

Elle was relieved, since she considered Noah to be a much harder sell than Angela. "Yes, because I'm sure Annie misrepresented a lot of what happened."

Elle tried to catch what she could from the conversation between Noah and Angela, but there was not much she could glean from his end of the line. When he hung up, he said, "We're going to New York."

Elle looked down at her clothes, or rather Sylar's clothes. "I'm going to need an ID."

"I'll take care of that. Go up to Claire's room and put some real clothes on. Jeans and a t-shirt, nothing she's going to miss."

Elle started to go but paused halfway up the stairs. "What do you think are the odds that Angela's just going lock me up when we get there?"

Noah shrugged. "I really could not tell you."

The first thing Elle did when she closed the door to Claire's room was check her pocket for Sylar's phone number. The piece of paper was soaked but readable. She laid it on the nightstand and peeled off her wet clothes. Looking through Claire's clothes, Elle chose a pair of track pants and a plain blue t-shirt. Then she found a hairdryer and used it to blow out both her hair and the piece of paper. Putting the paper in her pants pocket, Elle collected Sylar's wet clothes and carried them downstairs.

--

Elle and Noah were on a plane for New York within two hours. They sat in separate rows, which was probably intentional on Noah's part. Elle took the opportunity to go over her story and decide exactly what to say had happened that morning.

It was after nine p.m. Eastern time when they landed at the airport, and there was a car waiting for them there. Noah did not speak to Elle for the entire ride out to the facility in Hartsdale. She did not mind, though. Noah had brought her here, and that was really all she needed him to do.

Even though it was late when they got to the facility, Angela was waiting for them in Elle's father's old office. "Hello, Elle."

"Angela," Elle said by way of greeting.

"You screwed up the entire mission. Give me one reason I shouldn't cast you out on the street."

"I didn't screw up the mission; Annie did when she left me there. It was working. Yes, he thought I might be alive, but he wasn't sure. When he was in Costa Verde, he didn't kill West. I was breaking him down, but now he knows that it was all a lie. And that's what ruined the mission, because before that he was so confused that he didn't know what he knew."

Angela gave a curt nod. "Well,--"

Elle was not done with her spiel. "In hindsight, I realize that I should have tried to go with it this morning and convince Sylar that me being there was another manifestation of his subconscious. I might have been able to salvage this, but I was just so disturbed at finding myself there that I didn't handle it as well as I could have. I understand that."

"Annie had her reasons for leaving you behind. She said you told him what the company wanted."

"Annie misunderstood what I was saying. I only told him what Noah had already implied. So if you want to get rid of me, you should get rid of Noah, too. He's the one who ruined the parent scam. I think that Annie misunderstood a lot of what was happening. She completely missed the fact that it was working."

"Did she misunderstand when you said that you were still in love with him? Because this is the man who killed your father and then killed you. For you to be unable to say that you don't love him makes me wonder where your loyalties really lie. Is there anything he could do for you to really turn your back on him?"

"I feel responsible for what happened to him, for what he became. I feel responsible in some way for the death of my father and for the fact that Sylar is so devoid of human emotion that he thought killing me was the best way to break it off." Elle had a flashback to that day at Pinehearst. "He taught me to forgive myself, and I did. When I was malfunctioning, he took my pain away. He... Those feelings don't just go away. That doesn't mean that I'm not angry that he killed me. It doesn't mean I'm not loyal to you. I just can't forget what he did for me." She gestured at Noah. "We are responsible for what he is, and we need to stop him."

Angela folded her hands on the table before her. "Well, I don't trust you, Elle. Was it you or Sylar who destroyed the phone we were using to track him?"

"I did, to save lives. That phone was the only list he had. Now he doesn't have anyone to hunt. I didn't tell him where to find Annie. I was just angry when I told her that. He wanted me to though." She rolled up her left sleeve. The scratches had scabbed over. "He grabbed my arm and insisted I tell him. He also choked me when asking what the company's plan was. But see, that's the worst he did. He grabbed my arm, he applied slight pressure to my neck, and he threw me across the room once. He showed no interest in killing me again and actually told me that he's glad I'm alive. I think he might be soft on me too. I don't know how we can use that to our advantage, but there has to be a way."

"I'll think about it." Angela then waved her hand to signal that she was done with Elle. "You may go to your old room."

Elle found some solace in the fact that she was being sent to her old room and not to lockdown on Level 3 or higher. Before leaving, she said, "I know I've made mistakes, Angela, but I have never been anything but loyal to the people I worked for. I just happened to be working for Arthur for a while after you fired me."

--

Elle relished being in her own bedroom. It had been stripped down and most of her stuff was gone, but it was her home for sixteen years. Since the day she had been brought back to life, Elle had spent every night in a motel room with Annie, following Sylar around. It felt good to have a room of her own again.

It was different now, though, without her father around. She had always known the Primatech facility served as a prison of sorts, but it had never seemed like one to her specifically. Now she felt like she was being watched all the time. This room would do for a little while, but she did not think she could feel comfortable living at the company any longer. It was not her father's company anymore; with most of the founders dead, it was Angela's alone.

--

In the morning, Angela came to her room. "I've decided that you're right," she said. "You may still prove to be worth the blood that we spent in bringing you back. However, since I cannot trust you, I think the only suitable partner for you is Noah. You will be working closely with him, and he will report to me if you do anything the least bit suspicious."

Elle tried to look equal parts annoyed and grateful, but honestly, that was the best news she could have gotten. Noah was the one person in the company who Elle knew wanted to kill Sylar rather than just control him. Angela wanted him to keep an eye on Elle, but Elle was glad to be able to keep an eye on him as well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** I actually found it easier to find time to write when I was supposed to be studying. Now it's taking time away from fun holiday stuff, instead of boring school work. So, I'm sorry that I'm all erratic.

--

--

**Chapter 7:**

_--_

_Night 13:_

After dropping off Elle at that gas station, Sylar was still haunted by her memory. It was much worse now, though.

The first night, when he saw her, he thought it would be the same as before. He did not know why she would be doing it, but he just assumed that this was not a dream. The first thing that alerted him to the fact that this was different was that he was in his apartment in New York, not his hotel room in Utah.

He knew there were people who could do that, make him see what they wanted him to see. He had spent several minutes in Hawaii with just such a person. But it did not make sense for the company to expend more resources and effort in haunting him when he already knew about it. He supposed they could be stepping it up, just to convince him it was in his head this time.

Elle walked up to him. "I'm sorry I woke you. The door was unlocked, and I let myself in. I hope that's okay."

She looked young and innocent. There was something missing, some worldliness that would make her recognizable as the Elle he partnered up with that morning. The woman before him was not a sadistic spark plug; she was an angel with a broken watch. "It's fine."

"I just had no idea that you went to bed so early," she said in a teasing tone.

"What time is it?"

She checked her watch, the one he had fixed for her. "Nine thirty."

Sylar started to sit up but Elle shook her head and said, "Oh, that's not necessary." She sat on the side of the bed. "I was actually thinking... I love spending time with you, Gabriel, but I was actually thinking that maybe it was time for our relationship to become a little bit more physical." She sounded a little bit embarrassed as she said "physical."

Sylar barely registered what she was saying, because as she spoke, beads of blood emerged from her forehead. They formed a line and started to drip down her face. He reached up and wiped some of the blood away, smearing it across her forehead.

Elle was looking back at him as though nothing was happening. "Gabriel? Is something wrong?"

"You're bleeding." He showed her his hand.

"What?" She took hold of his wrist and looked closely at his hand. "I don't see any blood."

Sylar used the sheet to mop up the blood on her face. Just as he expected, under the blood there was a deep cut that started to bleed again as soon as he removed the sheet. He held the blood soaked sheet up to her. "Do you see the blood here?"

She shook her head. "No." She looked at the sheet closely as though trying to find a dot of blood, when the entire area she was looking at was nothing but blood. She felt her own forehead and showed him her hand. "I don't think I'm bleeding, Gabriel."

Her hand was covered in blood, and she was definitely bleeding. However, the lie detector in his head told him that she was telling the truth. She did not see any blood. So he tried to let it go. He knew this was probably really just a dream. It felt more like a dream than all the other times had. "Okay. What were you saying before?"

"Oh, um, I was saying that I wanted to..." She smiled, embarrassed again. "Um, to be more physical with you. And then you started acting weird. But I, uh, I understand if I was being too forward. I mean, I let myself in, and I came over here... God, what you must think of me." She covered her face with her hand.

He was still mesmerized by her forehead, but he tried to look her in the eye. This time he heard what she was saying, and he realized that, for whatever reason, the Elle who was with him now was really not comfortable being so forward and needed reassurance. "I don't think anything of you. Or anything bad."

Sylar knew that he had to kiss her, but the blood had dripped down her nose and across her lips. He hesitated only slightly before he pulled her down by her arm and kissed her. He tried to ignore the taste of her blood, but it became too much for him. He pushed her away a little and choked back some bile. "Okay."

He tried to kiss her again, but she stood up. "Right. I think I should go." She started to leave.

"Wait, Elle, don't go."

She turned around and suddenly she was wearing the same clothes she had been on the beach the night he killed her. The blood on her forehead had started to clot. She felt it again and fell to the floor. Sylar tried to get up but he could not. Looking at her there, he knew she was dead again.

Then he woke up in his dark motel room. What he had just experienced was much different than when Elle was fake haunting him. He supposed that there were people who could have made him see what he had, but this time, for the first time, he believed strongly that he had been dreaming, that his mind had done that to him. He wondered why he would be more haunted by the memory of killing Elle now when he knew she was alive than he was back when he thought she was dead.

--

After that, every night he had similar dreams. Sometimes she talked to him like he was Gabriel and sometimes like Sylar, but she was always completely unaware that she was bleeding or covered in burn scars or both. And in the end, she always died. After a few nights of this, he realized what it was that was causing him to have these nightmares. Knowing that Elle was willing to forgive him, willing to help him, made the memory of what he did to her all the more painful. It was worse knowing that she still cared about him, after he killed her father, after he killed her.

On some level, he hoped that Elle would not call him, or that when she did, it would be to lead him into a trap. It would make it easier on him if she did not forgive him after everything he did to her. He wondered if she had known how much worse he would feel when she forgave him. He wondered if that was part of her trying to hurt him the way he had hurt her. Again, he kind of hoped it was intentional on her part, although he knew she was telling the truth when she said this wasn't part of the plan.

--

_Night 22:_

That night the dream was different. This time it was the night he made ziti. Trevor was supposed to show up right after Elle brought out the food for Gabriel to smell. But there was no knock on the door. Elle sat the food down on the table, and the night went on.

As she poured herself some wine, Sylar realized that there was no blood yet, no hint that she had been set on fire. This might not be a nightmare. It could be plain wish fulfillment. To be able to go on in their relationship and not have it end in betrayal and murder. It was something he rarely thought about, but something he had always wanted.

While they were eating, he had the uncontrollable urge to say something, something he knew would ruin the mood. He held off for a few moments, and then he said, "I know, Elle. I know that you're special."

She looked up and smiled. "Thanks, but where did that come from?"

"I mean that I know you can conjure electricity in your hand." He mimicked how she did it. That was when he realized that he could not do it anymore. He had not thought about that before. He put his hand on the table and tried to phase through it, but he couldn't. He understood why, because this was the past when he only had telekinesis; he just had not noticed that before.

Elle gave a forced, slightly panicked laugh. "What? Electricity? I don't—I don't know what you mean by that."

"I know everything. I know about the company."

Elle stared at him. She raised her hand, but then she seemed to think better of it. "Is this like when you think I'm bleeding? Are you sick, Gabriel?"

For a second he wanted to believe her. He did not know why he felt the need to ruin their dinner. "So Bennet's not watching us from somewhere, trying to find out what I can do?"

He could see that she was trying to figure out what to say. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She leaned across the table and whispered, "No, Bennet's not out there this time. He doesn't know that I'm here." She sighed and sat back. "How did you find out?"

Sylar did not know how to answer that. "I've met agents before."

She looked a little skeptical. "Okay. Well, I'm glad you know, because I've been trying to figure out how to tell you." She formed a ball of electricity in her hand. "How did you know... I was supposed to bring you someone from the list, so that we could see how you transfer abilities."

He shook his head. "You don't want to see that."

She nodded earnestly. "I do. That's my job. Normally we would just bag and tag you, but the company wanted to see you... in the wild so to speak. But now, I've kinda gone native. And maybe you're right; maybe I don't want to see that anymore."

Sylar grew thoughtful. "Is that true? Did you go—or want to go native?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. Obviously, I came without Bennet, so..."

He needed to explain because he did not know how much she knew. "I transfer abilities by killing people. I've only done it once; that why I can move things telekinetically. But if you brought me someone from the list, I would do it again. Does 'going native' mean you would want to stop that, even if the company wanted to see it?" He remembered now that she had tried to stop him; that was how he found out about her ability.

"Well, we knew about Brian Davis, so I kind of thought that you might have to kill to do it. That's why I—That's what I wanted to stop."

"Is that true? Did you want to stop it?"

She shrugged a little, as thought to say that she did not know what he wanted from her. "I don't know why you keep asking me—What?"

He knew that he was staring at her. It was starting now. The blood was starting to pour from her forehead. "You're bleeding," he said with little emotion.

She rolled her eyes. "Is it like a religious thing? Like the crown of thorns?" She held up her hands with the palms facing him. "Do you see the stigmata?"

"No, it's just on your forehead, where I cut you so that I could take your power."

With one hand, she hesitantly felt her forehead. "Oh, my god." She felt it with her other hand, too. "Oh, my god, what did you do to me?"

"I killed you, Elle. You should have stuck with Noah."

Elle fell face down into the ziti. Sylar just continued eating and waited for the dream to end.

--

--

**Author's Note:** I feel that there is an implication in that scene that he made the ziti, because she said it smelled delicious. Either way, I think it's a valid interpretation.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

--

_Night 30:_

This time they were standing outside his childhood home in Brooklyn. Sylar knew it was going to be a bad dream when his mother opened the door with a pair of scissors sticking out of her chest.

Sylar had never had a dream like this about his mother before. One of the reasons he was so willing to believe that Angela was his mother was because it alleviated the guilt he felt over killing the mother who raised him. This was the one murder that was more difficult for him than Elle's. Elle at least was still alive. He knew it was an accident, what happened to his mother, but that did not make him feel any better about it.

Of course, just as he expected, neither Elle nor his mother mentioned the scissors. His mother just invited Elle to come in and sit down.

The two got along really well, which Sylar found unrealistic, although he knew Elle better than his mother did. Sylar wished they would fight, that his mother would insult Elle or something, so that he would have an excuse to leave. As it was, he was forced to stare at the scissors jutting out of his mother's chest, scissors he put there. He realized that if he wanted an excuse to get out of there, then he needed to start the fight.

Since his mother was telling Elle how special Gabriel was as a child and how special he could be as a man, he decided to go with that. "You're right, Ma. I am special." He sent several of her precious snow globes flying across the room. They all hit the wall and shattered.

His mother got upset and ran to the far wall, which was what he wanted. Anything to distract him from the way he killed her. He would rather hurt and upset her than look at those scissors. "How did you do that, Gabriel? Why?"

"Elle is special, too. She can shoot electricity out of her hands. Go on, Elle, show her." He mimicked shooting from his hand and was surprised when a bolt of blue electricity shot out. He had killed his mother long before he ever got that ability. He grabbed a letter opener from the table next to him and turned it to gold. "Well, that's anachronistic."

Elle was watching him with curiosity before, but when she saw him perform alchemy, she started. "How did you do that?"

"I killed your father, obviously."

Elle got a panicked look on her face and pulled out her cell phone. She looked at it hesitantly, then she rose from her seat and ran for the door. Sylar stopped her and threw her against the same wall as the snow globes.

Until then, this had all proved a very good distraction. However, now, as he walked over to where his mother and Elle were both paralyzed, one by fear, the other by his power, the only things he could see were his mother's scissors and Elle's forehead. He raised his finger, and he held it there without cutting Elle yet.

At that moment, he became aware of the dream again. He had never cut Elle in his dreams, the blood had just appeared from when he cut her before. Absent his will to consciously make it happen, he moved his finger along and cut off the top of Elle's head. He knew that his mind was doing this not to hurt Elle, but to hurt him, to make him relive it. Elle's body slid down the wall, and her blood pooled at his feet.

His mother put her hand to her chest. "Gabriel, what did you do?" She fell over next to Elle.

So much blood ran from her chest, more blood than there probably should have been. It ran to the floor and commingled with Elle's. As Sylar stared at the blood, he heard a voice in his head. "You destroy people, Gabriel. You destroy everyone you meet." He knew the voice was his own. The sentiment was coming from somewhere inside of him.

Sylar was awakened by a phone ringing. He looked at the clock by his bed. It was five in the morning. Slightly out of it, he looked around the room to find the ringing phone.

The ringing was coming from his bag. He realized it was the prepaid cell phone he had purchased three weeks before. He realized it was Elle finally calling him. He answered the phone, dreading having to talk to her.

"Gabriel? I'm sorry it took so long to call, but I don't trust the phones at the company. I think it's best to assume that they've been bugged. And my cell phone bill goes directly to them too. So I wanted to be careful."

"That's... fine, Elle. I'm glad you're being safe. So you're in?" He knew he was being short with her. It was not her fault, but he really could not handle talking to her right then with the visions of her dead body so vivid in his mind.

"Um, yeah. Well, I mean, sort of. They're putting me up, they gave me a partner and a cell phone, but I have not been asked to do any actual work yet."

"Okay. Keep me posted."

Sylar was about to hang up the phone when he heard Elle call out "Wait!" He put the phone back to his ear. "When am I going to see you again?"

He sat on the side of the bed. It might be good for him to see Elle alive and not bleeding. Or it might make things worse for him, but either way, he needed to know. "Where are you staying right now? The New York facility?"

"In Hartsdale, yeah."

"I'll meet you next Friday at 8 p.m." He described to her how to get to a particular bar in Brooklyn. It was not one he had ever frequented, but it was one he was familiar with all the same. He felt it would be best to maintain some kind of home field advantage.

He could almost hear Elle thinking on the other side. "I do have information for you. Just because I'm... Just because they stuck me with a rookie for a partner, it doesn't mean--"

Sylar cut her off. "Wait, what? Why are you lying about your partner?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you can tell when I'm lying over the phone. I think it's important for you to know that. I need to know that you trust me, Gabriel. During this time apart, nothing has changed for me. I'd really like to know that the same is true of you."

Things had changed some for him. These dreams he was having changed things. "I'm agreeing to meet you in a week. We'll work the rest of it out then."

"Okay." Elle sighed. "It's just... Aren't you still wanted by the NYPD for killing your mother in Brooklyn?"

Sylar had not thought about that, which was odd because killing his mother was all he could think about right then. He just did not consider the police to be an obstacle of any kind. Now that he thought about it, he was probably still wanted by the FBI too. "Let me worry about that. I will be there. Friday at eight."

"Okay," Elle said again. "I'll see you Friday then." With that, she hung up the phone.

Sylar threw the phone on the bed behind him and rubbed his face. It was really early to be awake, but he did not want to go back to sleep. He got up and made himself coffee.

--

_Night 31:_

On the beach that night, Sylar knew something was different. Elle sat on the shore and stared out into the water. "What do you think this all means?"

Sylar sat next to her. "What?"

She did not look at him. "They go away, they come back. I thought it was ingrained in our DNA. Evolution and everything." She formed a ball of electricity in each hand. "I don't want to lose them again."

Sylar craned his neck around to see her forehead, to see if she was bleeding yet. She was not, and when the electricity went out in her hands, there were no burns. She usually caught on fire in the dreams that took place after he became Sylar, so he was just waiting for that to start so that the nightmare could end.

Elle turned her head and saw him staring at her forehead. She scooted back. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sylar held up his hands. "No reason."

She stood up and backed away from him even more. "No, you want to kill me and take my powers. I'm not going to let you take them."

He looked up at her and squinted, even though there was no sun. This was a new one. "Elle, I have no intention of killing you." It took him a moment to remember that this was actually the night that he had killed her and that these dreams always ended that way. Still, it was not his intention to do it.

She shook her head slowly. "You're lying."

Suddenly, Sylar was on his back, and Elle was looming over him. At first, he had no idea what had happened, but when she raised her hand and pointed a finger at his forehead, he understood a little better. "I'm not going to let you kill me," she said.

Sylar felt excruciating pain as she cut into his head. She stopped halfway through, but it was enough that a normal person would have died. However, Sylar neither died nor healed. He just lay there with a gaping cut in his forehead, still unable to move.

Elle started to pace. She sounded angry when she asked, "Why haven't you died?" She walked over and stood directly above him again. "You have to understand. I don't have a choice because you are never going to change." Then she zapped him with electricity and set his clothes on fire.

Sylar sat straight up in bed and patted himself, trying to put out the flames. It took him a moment to notice that he was not actually on fire. He stopped to consider what this shift in his dreams might mean.

It was, quite honestly, easier emotionally to dream about Elle killing him instead of the other way around. On some level, he wanted her to do something like that because there was no way they could ever be even. Yes, she had shot him twice, but that had barely even hurt, and she had known that he would be fine. And it was sort of his idea anyway.

Physically, the cutting and the being burned alive were really painful, to the point of feeling real. In some ways that made things easier for him too, but he felt that it was something he only wanted to experience once.

He could not take it anymore. The guilt, the grief, the pain, the dreams. It was too much. Friday was still five days away, and Sylar really doubted that anything good was going to come out of their meeting.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

--

_Night 36:_

Elle had known that something like this was going to happen. She knew that he was going to leave her at that gas station, drive away, and decide that he did not need her.

She heard it in his voice the morning she called him. He did not want to talk to her. In addition to being careful, she had wanted to wait until she had actual information to give him, because she was afraid that he would decide she was useless to him. However, she was also afraid that the longer she waited, the easier it would be for him to write her off as a company girl. As far as she could tell, it was a good thing she had not waited any longer before calling him.

Elle got to the bar a little early on Friday night. She was not sure whether she actually expected him to show up that evening, and she did not know what she would do if he did not. In a lot of ways, he was all she had, which was a little crazy. Her loyalty to the company was gone after they jerked her around so many times, but at least they had never actually killed her.

In other ways, it did not even matter whether she had company loyalty anymore. She had no assignments. She spent every day in an office typing up reports of what other agents did. Despite Angela's talk of having Noah watch her closely, Elle was fairly certain that he was still working with the Haitian, his real partner. That was okay with Elle, as long as she was able to continue working with her real partner, Sylar.

Elle sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Almost immediately, a man, the kind of man one would expect to find in a Brooklyn bar, sidled over to her and started chatting her up. Elle loved being hit on by men. So even though she was there to meet a particular man, she let this one buy her a drink while she waited, and she flirted shamelessly even though she knew she shouldn't.

At five past eight, Elle looked around the bar. There was no Sylar, but she did catch eyes with a handsome man on the other side of the room. He started toward her, and Elle thought that was good. Let Sylar see how desired she was, if he bothered to show.

Elle's Brooklyn barfly was not happy to see another man approach Elle. He stood and blocked the path to her. The man just sidestepped the barfly and whispered in Elle's ear, "I've been to Calgary."

It took her a moment to register what that could mean. She should have been expecting that, since she was the one who sent him to Calgary in the first place. While she was thinking about that, he turned to walk away. "Wait!" She stood and grabbed his arm, much to the chagrin of her other suitor. "You didn't even tell me your name."

He smiled at her, and Elle saw in that smile just a hint of Gabriel, and, though she had been pretty sure it was him before, she knew now. "It's James."

She licked her lips. "Well, James, would you like to buy me a drink?"

"I'd rather take you back to my hotel room."

"Okay," she said a little breathlessly. Elle felt a little flip in her stomach, even though she realized he did not mean it like that. Obviously they were not going to have this conversation in a crowded bar.

As she started for the door with James/Gabriel, the Brooklyn barfly stopped her. "What did he say to you?"

Elle had known that it was a mistake to let this guy think he had a chance with her when she was always going to leave with Sylar. She just enjoyed feeling wanted and toying with people. Now, she was at a complete loss for what James could have said to her that would cause her to skip the entire mating ritual. "Uh, he said he was going to make me a star. Just let it go."

The man shook his head. "Seriously, what did he say?"

Elle pointed at the bar. "That woman over there just got dumped, and she is way drunker than she looks. I'm going with this guy, but, damn, she's hotter than me anyway." As the barfly turned to look at this new possibility, Sylar and Elle left.

Sylar was staying at a hotel near the bar. When they got to the room, Elle said, "So Calgary, huh?"

"Yeah." He looked down at himself. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." He changed back so that he was just Sylar again.

They stood there in an awkward silence, which Elle broke by saying, "I didn't think you were going to come."

"Well, you wanted to see me." His eyes flicked up to her forehead, and he just stared at it. "You said you had information?"

Elle wanted to put the murder and everything behind them, but she could not help but be nervous at the way he was looking at her forehead. "Oh, I do, yes. But before we do that, I'd like to talk about the things we didn't have time to talk about in California."

Sylar sat on the bed. "Which is what?"

Elle tried not to have any expectations about what would happen here, but he was more curt than she had braced herself for. "What is wrong with you?"

He winced. "I kill people; that's kind of my superpower."

She had known about that. "No, your superpower is seeing how things work. But I actually meant what is wrong with you tonight, not in general."

He said, "There's nothing wrong with me," but he stared at her forehead again.

Elle tried to shake it off. "Okay, well, what I really wanted to talk about what this partnership is. I get you information and you... do what for me?"

"I stay away from you, which keeps you safe."

"Oh, okay," she said a little sarcastically. "So, I'm exchanging information for safety. It's like paying money to the mob. Strictly business."

"Elle, you know what this is. It's not like that."

"No, actually, I don't know what this is." She sat down and dug through her large purse. "But I better hand over my equivalent of protection money. Because if I don't, you might just cut open my head again. Third time's a charm. I might stay dead this time."

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, you told me that you still love me after I killed you. I don't know what to do with that."

Elle pulled out a manila envelope. "I never said I was still in love with you. I haven't been given much to do since I got back to work, and they're not telling me anything. So, with my spare time, I made you a list." She handed him a stack of loose leaf paper stapled together. "This is America."

He flipped through the list. It was extensive. Each entry contained names, known aliases, addresses, places of work, information about families, habits, and, of course, abilities. And she kept handing him more. Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and finally, a packet labeled "Miscellaneous," which included Africa, Australia, and island countries in the Pacific. "I'm sorry it's all handwritten," she said. "I didn't want to leave a trail. I highlighted the ones that seem particularly useful sounding." She showed him one such page.

It was a hell of a list, and it made him feel worse about how distant he was to her. He started to say something, thank her at least, but just then her cell phone rang.

Elle went back into her purse to find her phone. She checked the display. "It's Bennet."

Sylar changed back into James, although Elle was not sure why. She answered the phone.

With no preamble, Noah said, "What did he say to you?"

Elle looked around, paranoid. "Did you have me followed?"

As James, in a voice very unlike his own, Sylar said, "I thought you said that was your boss."

Elle smiled at him and nodded approvingly. "It is."

"Of course we had you followed, Elle. We don't trust you. What did he say to get you to leave the bar?"

"He said something crude and suggestive and really intriguing. And I'm not going to tell you what it was. I have a right to my personal life, Mr. Bennet."

"I don't care about your personal life, as long as it's not with Sylar behind the company's back."

Elle forced herself to laugh. "If that's what you're worried about, shouldn't you have picked someone to follow me who had at least seen a picture of him?"

"Picture of who?" Sylar asked.

Elle put her hand over the phone, but made sure she was not preventing Noah from hearing. "I had an abusive ex-boyfriend, and my boss is just worried that I'm going to fall back into that relationship. He's kind of like a father to me." She removed her hand. "But you have nothing to worry about, Mr. Bennet, because I promise you I'm moving on. That's what tonight is about."

Noah continued. "He knows what Sylar looks like, but the man at the bar could have told you that Sylar was waiting for you, or Sylar could have picked up a new power that we don't know about."

Elle looked at Sylar, who did not look like Sylar. "Um, I don't think... I mean, I would—I would know if... I'm going to look into that, Noah—Mr. Bennet, but..." She stood and walked around in a small circle. Then she lowered her voice. "I think it's important to remember that we usually know when he's killed someone. He leaves the bodies right out in the open."

Noah made a sucking sound over the phone line. "I don't know if I believe you, but if you really just went home with some guy you met in a bar... be careful."

Elle smiled. "I will, Mr. Bennet. Don't worry; I can handle myself." She snapped the phone closed, and addressed Sylar. "They're keeping a closer eye on me than I thought. It's almost flattering."

Sylar had gone back to flipping through the list, but now he looked up at her. "This is really impressive."

"Yeah. I feel like we weren't done discussing what kind of relationship we were going to have." She sat next to him again. She took the list from him and hugged it to her chest. "I understand that you don't like me for some reason, but in order for this partnership to work, you need to at least pretend to. You know, try to be cordial, recognize that I'm doing you a favor. You don't have to make me feel like it's a hassle to have to talk to me."

Sylar, who still looked like James, rolled his eyes. "That's not--"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about! Don't roll your eyes at me. I'm not just some pain in the ass; I'm your partner. I'm helping you."

"I know that you're helping me," he said, still making it sound like she was being a pain. "But how do you think that makes me feel? God, Elle, after everything I've done to you, you still chose me over the company. Whatever they did to you, it couldn't have been as bad as murdering you and your father. They brought you back from the dead. Why are you helping me?"

Elle laughed, because finally he was saying something that made sense to her. "Those are good questions, and I'm not sure I have the answers. I guess I just don't see a future with the company anymore." She let linger in the air the implication that she did see a future with him, although that was not necessarily true. It would have been more accurate for her to just say that she was still in love with him, but she did not want to go there. She placed her hand on his cheek and turned his head to face her. "What happened to back when you wanted to kiss me?"

He looked at her mouth, which was a welcome change from him looking at her forehead. "The last time I kissed you, I killed you."

Elle shook her head. He was remembering that wrong, but she understood that he was fixated on the night he killed her. "No, the last time you kissed me, you abandoned me at a gas station. And that's bad enough, but you didn't kill me."

"It's not that I'm not attracted to you, Elle. It's just that I don't see how we can... have any kind of... We're better apart, right?"

"Actually, I think we got a lot worse while we were apart." Then, because Elle was tired of waiting for him to decide what he wanted, she kissed him.

--


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

Sylar pulled away from Elle. "You handled Bennet, but is there any other way the company could find out that it's really me here with you?"

He could try to change the subject all he wanted, but Elle was determined to keep things on track. She pushed him onto his back. "Well, Matt Parkman won't let us—them—use the Walker system anymore. So..." She peeled off her shirt. "Short of them bringing the Haitian to this very room, I don't think so."

Sylar tried to sit up, but Elle pushed him back again. "I think it would make things easier for me if you were a little bit angrier about what I've done to you."

Elle did not understand that. She could tell that he was feeling some kind of guilt over killing her, but this was Sylar; he killed people all the time. If she could get over it, it really seemed that he should be able to as well. She straddled him. "It would make things easier for me if you would just have sex with me. I can get angry later."

He sighed. "I don't see how sex is going to make anything better."

As far as Elle was concerned Sylar staying away from her to keep her safe was not a fair exchange for the list. She had worked hard on that, and she wanted more out of this partnership that just protection. She did not want to say any of that though. She did not want him to have sex with her because he thought that he owed her that for the list. "You're just going to have to trust me. It's going to make things better. And you know I'm not lying about that."

He smiled in a way that told her his lie detector had not gone off. Emboldened by that, Elle continued. "But I don't want to have sex with this guy," she said, waving her hand over the body that still looked like James. "So if you could change back... Oh, but maybe have your hair combed down and maybe with a cardigan..." She was kind of teasing him, but she did miss the old Gabriel sometimes.

He changed back so that he looked like Sylar, but not Gabriel. "That's part of the problem. You want me to be him, and I'm not. I don't want to be him; he was weak."

Elle did not understand why he wanted to continue making problems where there weren't any. She unbuttoned his shirt. "I know who you are. And don't talk about him like that. Gabriel was special. He could move things with his mind. What can you do?" she asked dismissively.

Sylar shook his head, and Elle could tell that he was conflicted as to what to do next. He sighed, seemingly resigned. "I can do a lot of things," he finally said, and he flipped her onto her back.

--

Although he still could not comprehend Elle's forgiveness, Sylar was glad she had talked him into that. She was lying against his chest, content, and it occurred to him that this was much better than holding onto tortured grief. He could go back to having his nightmares when he left in the morning. For now, he might as well try to enjoy being with Elle.

Elle raised her head. "Is it okay if I still call you Gabriel, or will you feel like I'm trying to stifle you?"

"It's fine." Normally, Sylar did not like being called Gabriel. Bennet, in particular, would mock him with that name. But it had never bothered him that Elle used it. That might have been part of why he felt stifled by her, but he realized that he did not want her to stop.

Elle traced her finger around on his chest. "I know that, in a lot of ways, I'm just your crazy ex-girlfriend. One you went through extremes to get rid of. I can recognize that I'm kind of like a stalker."

Sylar smiled down at the top of her head. "Where is that coming from?"

"The way you were before, I get it. I get that you killed me, and maybe you don't want forgiveness for that. I think I forced you into this partnership. So you got your list, and I got my... sex. If you want to leave me behind and go it alone, I'm not going to beg you anymore."

Sylar was not sure that Elle had ever begged him, but he knew what she meant about forcing him into the partnership. When he thought about it, he was going to leave her behind. "See, if you had just said this before we had sex... I think I've decided I do want your forgiveness now."

"But still, we were so dysfunctional. I'm sure that things were so much easier with Maya."

It sounded to Sylar that she was trying to get rid of him, but then she mentioned Maya. He remembered when she had mentioned Maya before, in the car. Once he realized the Elle was jealous, he knew she was just fishing and not trying to get out of their partnership. "Yeah, Maya was great. Really just perfect. Of course, I also killed her and her closest relative. The woman you should really be jealous of is this one I knew before I became Sylar, the only one to ever break my heart."

Elle lifted her head, looking very annoyed. "I don't think it's necessary for you to--"

Sylar cut her off. "She made a peach pie that was so good it tasted store bought."

Elle laid her head down again. "Maybe I do want to hear this. And I didn't realize that you knew."

"Yeah, I didn't say anything because I just liked her so much, and she brought me pie. But like I said, she broke my heart. It turned out she was lying about some things, and it ended badly."

"That's too bad. She sounded great." Elle leaned over the side of the bed and picked up the list from where it had fallen. "I think it's time to decide who you should kill next."

Sylar appreciated all of Elle's help, but he still was not comfortable having her be a part of the killing. He took the list from her and laid it on the bed next to them. "I can handle that on my own, but thanks."

Elle got up on her knees and sat against her heels. "I have been thinking about a few things, and I think you should kill Angela. You know, go on the offensive, take out the head of the company. That's the only way to stop them."

He could see the logic in what she was saying, but it did seem a little flawed. "There'll just be someone else to take her place. I can't kill everyone who works at the company."

Elle shook her head. "No matter who takes her place, it won't be the same. Angela is the last living founder. Any successor won't be as powerful or as respected. One of the reasons I'm no longer loyal to the company is because it not my father's company anymore. There are others who feel that way, people who were loyal to Linderman or Arthur or whoever. And there are people who are only sticking through the changes out of loyalty to Angela. I'm not guaranteeing that the company will fall apart once she's dead, but whatever the company becomes, it should be easier to deal with. You need to kill Angela."

He could tell that she had put a lot of thought into that. He did not know why he continued to underestimate her. "I know you want to prove to me that you can handle my lifestyle, but--"

She pressed her hands against his chest and slid her legs out from under her so that she was sitting sideways. "When you said I was never going to change, what did you mean? Why am I damaged goods? It's because I can do this, because I am sadistic and sociopathic enough to help you kill them. I created you, Sylar. Forget about my orders. I brought you someone to kill and turned you into a monster."

While sociopathic Elle was turning out to be really convenient for him, Sylar did not like thinking that he brought out the worst in her. He had enough to feel guilty about when it came to her. "You tried to stop me."

"That was before, when you had..." She trailed off. "I swear I won't stop you again."

Sylar sat up. "When I had what?"

"A soul," she said, sounding a little embarrassed. "Back when you could have been saved. I think at this point, you're beyond redemption. But as one of your victims, I might be biased."

Sylar nodded slowly. He himself had decided that redemption was out of the question the night he killed Elle. That was part of the reason he killed her. He wanted to get rid of Elle and all thoughts of becoming a good person. It was intended as an irrevocable act of rejecting that life, but, thanks to the company, it had been revoked. So he understood where Elle was coming from, but it seemed a little harsh to say he did not have a soul. "What about your soul? Can't you still be saved?"

"No." She shook her head. "No, I'm just damaged goods."

He wished she would stop reminding him of that. Although, he reminded himself, he had wanted her to get a little angrier. "I don't think that you understand what it's like when--"

"I've killed people, Gabriel. You know that, right? And if I remember the first time correctly, I didn't feel the kind of remorse that led you to hang yourself. It was an accident, I felt kind of bad, but I just moved on and let it get easier. You tried to stop and have a normal life eating ziti and seeing performance art. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I'm the monster here. I never wanted to changed, and I never tried to. Don't worry about my soul; it was gone long before I met you."

Sylar was aware that she had killed people before, just like he was aware that Bennet had killed people. But he had never connected that to her diagnosis as a sociopath. He thought of her killing as strictly business, but the way she was describing it now was something much darker. He was finally starting to understand. "You're a sadistic sociopath who has killed people."

"Yes." She handed him the list. "So kill Angela."

He remembered being powerless in Mexico and the way Maya made him feel. She was like a shiny toy to him. If it wasn't his fault, if Elle was going to be a sociopath anyway, then she was a much better toy. "Out of curiosity, do you want me to kill her because it's in my best interest or because you're upset at the way she treated you?"

Elle hesitated. "It _is _in your best interest; my reasons don't matter. She's a precog. You don't want one of those running the company."

Sylar waved his hand. "You don't have to talk me into it anymore. I'll kill Angela."

Elle's eyes lit up. She grabbed his face and pulled him toward her. She fell back onto the bed, taking him with her.

--

**Author's Note:** I thought about having Sylar say, "There was this one girl. She was blonde, petite. Smelled of marshmallows and promises." But that wouldn't have been in character.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** The part about Claude is from the graphic novels. More on that in the author's note below.

--

--

**Chapter 11:**

When Elle woke up in the morning, Sylar's side of the bed was empty. At first, she thought he had left while she was sleeping, but then she heard rustling of papers. She turned around to see him sitting at the table, poring over the list.

Sylar must have noticed her moving because he looked up from what he was doing, a little surprised. "This is amazing. In case I haven't said it yet, thank you."

Elle sat up and stretched. "It was no problem." She had prepared herself for the fact that he would leave without saying goodbye, but she was really glad he had waited for her. Of course, it was his hotel room. Just for a second, she allowed herself to imagine that they were a normal couple, taking a vacation in New York. She pretended the papers were just some work he had to do before they could go sightseeing. She pulled on his shirt and her underwear and went over to the table. "What are you looking at?"

He showed her the page. It was Claude Rains. Elle's breath caught in her throat. Claude was one of the few people who she still considered a friend, or an ally at least. After she lost control of her abilities, he had tried to help her in London. In making the list, she had given information on a lot of agents who she had once liked, and she had not even thought about it when she made a page on Claude. Now, she knew that if Sylar killed him, it would be completely her fault. She could not even ask Sylar not to kill Claude, not after the way she insisted the night before that she would be able to handle his lifestyle. She tried to keep her tone light. "Invisibility? Can't you just use your illusory power for the same effect?"

If he noticed any hesitation on her part, he did not show it. "Yeah, but... Sort of. It's one thing to change something into something else, but to turn something into nothing takes a lot of concentration. I don't think I can do it for very long. Invisibility would be much better."

Elle had never thought of him as having limitations, but that made sense. She looked over his shoulder. She wanted to see what she had written. She knew exactly how to find Claude, but she saw that she had put none of that on the sheet. "He might be hard to find though. Being invisible and having no known address."

He turned to face her. "You had reason to believe he was in London."

It did not really sound like an accusation, but Elle got a little defensive. "I'm just saying that London's a big city. I'm... just being realistic. Invisible people are hard to find."

He turned completely around in the chair. "There's one more thing I want you to do, and then I'll stop doubting you, I promise. I want you to see me kill someone. The blood, the brains, all of it. And if you can handle that, I won't doubt you anymore."

Elle struggled to find her voice. She had no problem watching him kill someone, if that was what it would take, but she could not watch him kill Claude. "I can't—I can't go to London with you. I have to work. They're watching me."

"I didn't necessarily mean this guy. Anyone." He picked up the America list. "Let's just find someone in New York."

Elle laughed, relieved. She thought about the people she knew in New York. She wished there was another invisible person she could give to Sylar, but Claude was the only one she knew of. "Well, let's see, there is..." Something occurred to her. "You can't. They'll know you were in New York. That will cast suspicion on me. I mean, if you care."

He nodded thoughtfully and then shook his head. "No, you're right. We'll have to do it some other time."

Elle thought about what Noah had said, how the company had not known about Sylar's new power. "What have you been doing? I haven't heard about any killing sprees. How did you cover up what happened in Calgary?"

"I was starting to think it would be better if the company didn't know all that I could do. This ability in particular seemed like a good one to keep secret. So I monitored him for a while, and then took over his life long enough to ease him out of town. But the really great thing about this guy is that no one is going to miss him. His wife had just left him because he was using his ability to sleep with more attractive women. His friends did not really like him, because I could tell when they were lying. So really all I had to do was dispose of the body and quit his job. I treated the whole thing as a mid-life crisis, which is where he was headed anyway."

Having met the shapeshifter in Calgary, Elle understood exactly what he meant. When she thought about it, the part about sleeping with more attractive women seemed really familiar because she had seen Candice use her power to a similar end. She wondered if that was common among shapeshifters. "Are you going to have a midlife crisis? Use your ability to sleep with more attractive women?"

He laughed. "More attractive than you?"

Elle liked the way he said that, as though he found it hard to believe there were any such women. "I guess you've done all right looking like yourself. I mean Maya was beautiful."

He rolled his eyes, and then mock gasped. "I could use this ability to sleep with Maya. I didn't even think of that."

She knew he was teasing her. She was not even sure why she brought up Maya. She pursed her lips and nodded. "Just for my own information, was she the only other woman you were involved with after you met me?"

"I wasn't involved... I didn't have sex with Maya. Was there anyone else for you after you met me?"

Elle remembered how much she had liked Peter Petrelli and the one kiss they shared. She knew she could not tell Sylar a lie, so she left it at, "I didn't have sex with anyone if that's what you're asking."

Sylar narrowed his eyes. "It sounds like we're about even. So let's not talk about Maya anymore."

Elle thought that was a good idea. "I think you should kill someone and leave the body out in the open so that the company knows you're still being you. Just not in New York."

"All right." He handed her the America list. "Pick someone."

Elle was relieved that he seemed to have forgotten about Claude. Either that or she had convinced him that an invisible man was too difficult to find. She figured having her pick the next victim was another test, and it seemed like they had come a long way from him trying to shield her from the killing. She flipped through the pages. "You lost everything when you got the Shanti virus, right?"

"Yeah, I lost everything except the telekinesis."

"So were there any of those that you particularly wanted back?" She imagined he wanted all of them back, but it would have to be one at a time.

Sylar sat back in his chair, thinking. "I really liked the super-hearing."

Elle scrunched up her nose. "I don't know anyone who can do that. What about enhanced vision? I have one of those in Michigan. I don't know this Michelle, but I knew someone else with the ability who had telescopic vision and could see perfectly at night. And you needed glasses. So... If you want me to pick your next victim, I am picking Michelle Valcek in Saginaw, Michigan." She turned to that page and handed the list back to him.

He looked at the information on the page. "Okay, I'm going to kill her, and it's all your fault."

Elle wondered why he was saying that. Was he giving her a chance to change her mind? Would he not kill Michelle if she asked him to hold off? It seemed kind of sweet the way he was trying to protect her soul. She had not been able to see that the night before. "I'm okay with that," she said.

Elle knew there was no point in drawing out the inevitable. The sooner he got to Michigan, the better it would be for her. She told him so and got dressed. As she got ready to leave and go back to her life working for the company, she felt the need to say one last thing. She stopped at the door and pressed up against him. "Don't have sex with Maya."

Sylar leaned down to kiss her, pushing her up against the door. "I won't."

Elle was glad they had established that. In all her fishing about Maya, he had never actually said that he did not want Maya, and she had never actually said that she did not want him to be with anyone else. When he finished kissing her, she let herself out of the room.

It was not until later that she realized that neither of them had said goodbye. She figured that was okay though, since they had left it on fairly good terms. It did bother her, however, that she had no idea when she would see him again.

--

Noah came into her small office on Monday and sat on the edge of her desk. Elle was surprised to see he was in New York. "How was your date?" he asked.

She pushed her chair away from the desk. "Honestly?"

He nodded. "I'd really appreciate some honesty."

"I didn't get what I wanted out of it at all. I still feel guilty over Sylar. I don't think I was ready to move on. I mean James was... nice enough, but... I wasn't ready. I am pretty sure that it wasn't Sylar, though. Because if it had been him, it wouldn't have been as disappointing."

Noah's cold eyes bore into hers. "Where was he from?"

She tried to match his stare with confidence. "Seattle. He was in town on business; I didn't ask what kind. I really didn't ask a lot questions at all."

"What possessed you to go to a bar in Brooklyn in the first place?"

"I don't like Manhattan. Guys in Brooklyn are much more down to earth. And, okay, yeah, that's where I met Gabriel in the first place. So maybe I already knew that I wasn't ready to move on, but I gave it a try. I don't want to have feelings for him anymore. If I can stamp them out, maybe Angela will trust me enough to give me real assignments again."

Noah stood. "No one's ever going to trust you again, Elle. You should get used to that."

Elle watched him leave. She did not think that Noah would be next in line to take over the company when Angela was killed, but a lot of the senior agents had been killed in the last year. If he was next, he was just as likely to dissolve the company as to let it stand. On the other hand, it was really likely he would use all the company resources at his disposal to have Sylar killed. On those nights, when Elle had gone to Sylar's motel with Annie, they could have easily decapitated him or done any of the other things that could permanently kill a person who can spontaneously regenerate. Those were not the orders Annie was given, and she followed orders. Because everyone knew what happened when agents started disobeying; they got killed by someone like Noah. With Noah in charge, the orders would be different.

Elle had never considered those possibilities, because she had never considered that Noah might be the most senior agent left. She knew that Sylar needed to be warned of the possibility, however slim, of a Bennet-run company, but it was hard enough for her to get in touch with him before, and now they were probably watching her more closely than ever.

--

--

**Author's Note: ** I have been reading a lot on Wikipedia about the graphic novels. There is so much going on there, but I don't have time to read them or piece together from Wiki what happened. I will occasionally use things that only happened in the graphic novels, but I can't promise to stay graphic novel compliant.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**: I know this is weird because, in the last chapter, I did Elle's Monday and now I'm cutting back to Sylar's Saturday night. I think those scenes belong in their respective chapters; it just seems weird. And I want to thank everyone again for all the great reviews.

--

**Chapter 12**

_Night 37:_

The night he spent with Elle, Sylar did not have any dreams worth remembering. However, the next night, he dreamed of her death again.

This time, when she caught fire on the beach, she grabbed his forearms, and said, "I forgive you, Gabriel."

She would not let go of him. The fire spread down her arms and caught him on fire. She did not seem to notice that he was being burned; she just kept insisting that she forgave him.

In the morning he realized that she had never forgiven him in his dreams. The forgiveness in real life was one of the hardest things for him to take. He had to give credit to his brain for bringing that up when he was almost at a point of being comfortable in this partnership with Elle.

He had meant it when he told her that he wanted her forgiveness. It was just difficult for him to accept. Even though he did not have to feel guilty over bringing out the sociopath in her, he still felt horrible guilt over killing her. All these feelings were much more complicated now, though. Before, he had entertained the notion of breaking off the partnership without a word and never seeing her again. That was no longer an option. Now, she was so much under his skin that the idea of staying away was as painful as living with his guilt and her forgiveness. Now he wanted this to work out, whereas he had not before.

He also knew that, at this point, Elle would not let him cut her out of his life anyway. She had given him a way out the night before, and he had not taken it. To leave her behind now would mean that he had been leading her on, and he shuddered to think what she might do if she felt that he had betrayed her. It seemed odd to him that he was almost invincible, but he still feared Elle's wrath. The bottom line was the more he let her help him, the harder it would be to get rid of her, even if he wanted to.

--

Using a fake identity, Sylar flew into Detroit on Sunday, spent the night there, and drove into Saginaw on Monday. It occurred to him that it might be a trap. He did not know how he would feel about Elle if he found that she had set him up, but he found it unlikely that she had. He was fairly certain of her loyalties at this point.

In Saginaw, Sylar observed Michelle Valcek. She was not what he expected at all. She was a sweet grandmotherly type. He had been testing Elle when he asked her to pick his next victim, but now he wondered if she was testing him. And if she was, what was the test? Did she want to know if he was heartless enough to kill an unassuming grandmother. Regardless of how he felt about this woman and her ability, he felt the need to prove to Elle that he was that heartless, so that she would understand what she was getting into. On the other hand, maybe Elle was trying to prove to him that she could devalue human life as easily as he could. Sylar reminded himself that Elle had claimed not to know Mrs. Valcek and tried to put those paranoid thoughts out of his mind so that he could concentrate on the task at hand.

--

On Tuesday morning, Angela came into Elle's office and pursed her lips. "Sylar has killed again. This time it was a woman in Michigan."

Elle had been waiting to get that news since Sylar left her Saturday morning. She tried to look surprised. "What does that mean? What can he do now?"

Angela waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, it's just a vision thing. I want you to go out there with Noah and investigate. Now that there's a trail, maybe we can find Sylar again."

Elle thought that she must have misheard or that Angela must have misspoke. "You want _me _to go with Noah?"

"Yes, he is your partner. And you are here to work on the Sylar case; that's why we brought you back."

Elle knew that was why they revived her originally, but she found it hard to imagine Angela would still want her on that case. She believed Noah when he said that no one would trust her anymore, and she certainly did not think they would trust her to be around Sylar. However, Elle wanted an assignment, and she really wanted to be on the Sylar case, so she did not want to ask any questions that might make Angela change her mind. She stood up. "Okay, then."

Angela handed her a plane ticket. "You will meet Noah in Michigan."

--

In the rental car, Noah was quiet. Elle had no more information than Angela had given her back at the facility, so she hoped Noah had a better idea of what was going on. "So if we do find Sylar, what then? I'm not really any match for him. Wouldn't it be better to have someone like the Haitian with you?"

Noah kept his eyes on the road. "Yes, that would be better. We're operating under the assumption that he won't try to kill you, though. He already has your ability, and you claimed that there was reason to believe he still has feelings for you."

Even though Elle knew that was true, it would not help the company capture Sylar. "So is that part of... I feel like I should know Angela's plan before we find Sylar."

"You said that even if the company were able to take him into custody and gain control of him, there's no way to guarantee that we would keep control."

Elle remembered saying something to that effect. "Yeah. So?"

Noah pulled into a driveway. "So Angela thinks you might be the best way to control him. He's always been a little vulnerable to you. You manipulated him perfectly when you first met him, and you did it again when you were haunting him. We still don't trust you, but right now, no one can think of any other way, or any better way, to control Sylar."

Elle wanted to ask Noah more about that, just to hear more about how Sylar was vulnerable to her and how she was the only one who could control him. She liked the sound of that, but they were at the house, and there was other work to do. So she got out of the car and followed Noah into the house. Inside, the body was still lying where Sylar had left it. Somehow they had gotten the tipoff before the police. The company never ceased to amaze Elle.

Elle noticed the pictures on the wall before she really looked at Michelle Valcek. The walls were covered with the images of children, teenagers, weddings, and more children. Then she looked at the body and was not surprised to find the sweetest old lady with the top of her head cut off and her brain removed. Elle had known that Michelle Valcek was a widow, but she honestly had no idea that Michelle was so old. She did not know why it made it harder to know that she had sentenced this woman to death instead of a younger one, but she figured it must be all the grandchildren staring at her from the wall.

Fortunately, Noah misunderstood whatever horror was showing on her face. He gestured at the brainless body. "How do you feel about your boyfriend now?"

Elle wondered if that was Angela's real purpose in sending her to Michigan, to show her what Sylar had done. Maybe Angela thought they would be able to trust her more if they could break down her feelings for Sylar. She turned to Noah. "How can you look at that and not feel guilty? We did this. We should have let him hang himself rather than let this happen. What happened to Claire, what happened to my father, to me, we're responsible for all of it. I don't know how you've talked yourself out of that."

"No one is responsible for what Sylar did except Sylar. Once you realize that... It's this guilt that's keeping you from moving on."

Elle smiled inwardly. She had only said what she thought was expected of her, but now she knew that Noah believed her when she said those things. That was a really good sign. She sighed. "I don't think there's any trail here to follow. What was her ability?"

Noah put on a glove and pushed some things around. "Telescopic vision. He could be watching us right now."

Elle looked around at the windows. She had to admire how calm Noah was considering that Sylar had recently threatened to end their game of cat and mouse. She tried to look like she was doing something, but even if she found a trail, she probably would not tell Noah.

Finally, Noah gave up and took off his gloves. "There's nothing here."

"So what do we do now?"

"Leave the body for the F.B.I." He held the door for Elle to exit the house. "I'm sure Agent Hanson is in need of something to do."

In the car, Noah said, "I am curious how Sylar found Mrs. Valcek. Was she in your phone?"

"No," Elle said. "I didn't even know her."

Noah looked at her warily. "Well, now we'll look into her children. I'm sure by now Sylar has realized these abilities are genetic."

--

Michelle Valcek had five children, none of whom had been documented as having abilities. Three of them were still located in nearby towns and a fourth lived in Detroit. Elle and Noah spent two days talking with and monitoring those children when word came that the fifth and youngest of the Valcek brood had been murdered in Maryland.

The remaining siblings were bagged and tagged for their own safety, and Elle and Noah flew back east to have an uncomfortable conversation with Tracy Valcek Chobham's husband. He claimed that he had never seen her do anything out of the ordinary, but they both knew that in situations like this, people tended to lie. Without going into too many details, Noah stressed how important it was that they know what Tracy was able to do. As of right then, Sylar had at least one ability the company knew nothing about.

After hitting the wall in Maryland, Noah sent Elle back to the facility in Hartsdale. She did not like being dismissed like that, but at least she had been sent on a real mission. It worked out for her anyway because she wanted to be somewhere where Sylar could easily find her if he needed or wanted to. She still needed to witness a kill in order for him to trust her, and after just seeing two bodies, one in person and one in pictures, she wanted to get that over with as soon as possible.

--

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**Author's Note:** Michelle Valcek and Tracy Chobham were from Chandra Suresh's list, but there is no indication they were related.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** It turns out I've been spelling Bennet wrong. There's only one T. I thought about leaving it, but it's not okay to misspell a character's name if I know better.

--

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**Chapter 13**

Sylar sat innocuously on a bench a few hundred yards from the entrance of the Primatech facility, watching people coming and going. He had two reasons for wanting to see Elle. One was simply that he wanted to see her, but the other was that he needed to talk to her about Claude Rains.

When he brought up Claude originally, he heard the catch in her voice, the false disinterest. And when she said he had no known address, Sylar knew she was lying. At first, he had been content to let the conversation move in a new direction, but recently the idea of invisibility had started to eat away at him. It was a familiar feeling, the hunger taking over, clouding everything else. He wanted that known address, and he wanted to know why she was keeping it from him.

Sylar waited until it got dark, when it seemed that most of the people who were going to leave for the night had. As he walked toward the building he morphed into a man he had seen leaving earlier in the day. He knew it was risky, but he honestly believed he would be able to handle it. Because he had worked there previously, he was able to walk with purpose as he entered the building, knowing exactly where he was headed. He used his illusory power to make it appear he was opening doors when he was really phasing through. When he neared Elle's room, he went through a door and did not appear on the other side. The one real weakness in his plan was that he was not sure he would be able to keep the cloaking illusion up long enough to get to his destination, but he managed to do it.

He waited for her in her bathroom, which made him feel like a pervert, but it was the best plan he could come up with. He figured that was the one place they would not be monitoring her. Elle came in after about an hour. She gasped, but she had the presence of mind not to scream.

Elle quickly closed the door behind her and turned on the shower. "What are you doing here?" She whispered, but she did not give him time to answer. She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him fiercely. "How did you know about Tracy Chobham? We didn't even know about her."

Sylar caught his breath from the kiss. "She was on Suresh's list. When I saw the wedding announcement with the name, it triggered a memory. She could—I can teleport, but it's really short range. I'm working on it."

Elle's face fell a little. "Oh, I was hoping she... We need to talk about something."

He thought he knew what she was hoping, that Tracy had invisibility. Maybe it was just that it was so much on his mind. "We do need to talk. About Claude Rains. I know you know more than you're saying."

Elle got a stricken look on her face. She took a few deep breaths. "He's my friend."

"There's a known address, Elle, and I want it."

She tried to play it off with a smile. "If I help you kill my friend, what would that say about my ability to be loyal."

"It would prove to me that you're loyal to me above all other loyalties." Sylar did not like the way that sounded. It was less like a partnership and more like he thought he was her superior in some way. He just was not entirely in control anymore.

Elle shook her head. "No. No." She kept shaking her head and saying that.

Sylar grabbed her shoulders. "Elle..."

She looked at him with burning intensity. "No! I'm not going to help you. If you want to kill him, go to London and find him yourself. I won't try to stop you or stifle you or hold you back. I'm not telling you not to do it. I will still be here for you when you come back to me, invisible. But I _will not_ help you kill my friend. Not anymore than I already have. You only know about him because I put him on the list. I have to live with that, but that's it." She looked like she had more to say but she stopped there.

He expected to be angry with her for refusing to help, but he wasn't. He did not blame her for drawing a line. He realized that was what he had been waiting for since she proposed this partnership. Now it was for him to decide what to do with that. He released her shoulders.

Elle rubbed her forehead. At first it seemed casual, but then he realized she was covering it so that he would not have a clean shot at it. He started to tell her that he was not going to kill her, but he decided not to make any promises while the hunger was in control. "I understand," he said to alleviate her fear. "I am going to go to London, though."

Elle dropped her hand and closed her eyes. She took a moment to compose herself. Then she looked up at him with shiny eyes. "Okay."

Sylar knew he needed to leave before she was able to talk him out of it with her crying eyes. It did not seem appropriate to kiss her, so he placed his hand on her cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb. "Goodbye." He backed away from her, and started to phase through the wall.

Elle leaned back against the door, not really looking at him. "I'll be here when you get back."

–

Elle was on edge for the next week. She could not concentrate on anything and jumped at every sound, just waiting to get the news that the man she loved had killed the only friend she had left. On the one hand, she wanted it to be over with, but on the other hand, she did not want to know.

On the eighth day, Noah came into her office. She braced herself for the worst. She did not want to get the news of Claude's death from him, because she was sure that he would see through her rehearsed reaction.

Noah was not there to tell her about Claude though. He handed her a file. "A shapeshifter in Calgary missed his mortgage payment this month."

Elle opened the file, but she did not really look at the information in it. "What's your point?"

"Don't you find that suspicious?"

Elle looked up at him. "Not really. I met this guy, Noah. He hated his life. I think he probably assumed a new identity and is screwing models in L.A. or somewhere. So while I find it irresponsible of him to skip out on his mortgage, I don't see how cleaning that up is part of our job."

Noah narrowed his eyes and regarded her closely. "So you don't think there's any possibility that Sylar killed him?"

"Oh, Sylar." She looked at the file again. "Yeah, I guess that's possible." She thought about pointing out the absence of a body, but she did not want it to seem like she had given it much thought. "What did his wife say?"

Noah shook his head, as though anticipating her arguments. "Nothing, she left him a few months back. And he did quit his job recently."

Elle rolled her eyes and handed the file back to Noah. "Then I think it's more likely he assumed a new identity. Come back when you have real evidence Sylar was involved." She knew Noah had something else he wanted to say, but she did not want to deal with him right then. "He hasn't contacted me, Noah. But I promise you'll be the first one I tell if he does."

–

It took Sylar twelve days to finally nail down Claude Rains. He felt that, other than Claire's, that was the hardest he ever had to work to get a power.

Once the blood was on his hands and he had seen how Claude's brain worked, he wondered why he was doing this to Elle. What was he trying to prove anymore? He wanted the invisibility; he hungered for it, but there was something else there as well.

The irony came to him later, in his hotel room. He had demanded unwavering loyalty from Elle, and yet part of his goal in killing Claude was to prove to her and himself that he had no loyalty to her. He realized then that he was trying to push her away. He believed Bennet was right; they could never have a normal life together. It was only a matter of time before Elle saw that too. He was pushing her hard to get to that realization sooner rather than later. Sociopath or not, he believed she was going to leave him eventually, and he was trying to protect himself by killing everyone she cared about. He had been so wrapped up in his guilt about the way he hurt her that he almost forgot how easily she was capable of hurting him. He could not let himself need her if she was just going to leave.

--

_Night 59:_

Now that he had identified it, that fear of Elle leaving him worked its way into his dreams.

It was the night with the ziti and Trevor Zeitlen. Everything was happening as it should. Sylar threw Trevor up against the wall, and Elle gave him an electric shock to stop him. However, this time instead of throwing her out and letting her leave, Sylar held her in place.

"Well," he said. "Now I have to decide which of you to kill first." He recognized that was not really Gabriel speaking. That was not how he would have dealt with the situation back then. That was the calloused indifference of a seasoned killer.

Elle started breathing heavily. "Gabriel, please."

He knew that he was not really going to kill her. The point of keeping her there was to stop her from leaving him. Killing her would be counterproductive. "Okay, Trevor then. Come on, let's see how special he is." He mocked her earlier tone.

Elle took a step forward of her own volition. She glanced back at a wall.

Sylar followed her gaze. "Is that where they're watching me from? They better hurry up if they want to stop me."

She looked at him, confused. "What happened to you? Is this who you really are? Was it all a lie before?"

He grabbed her arm and dragged her over to Trevor's side. "I could ask you the same question."

He forced Elle to her knees and took a step back. Then he slowly cut off the top of Trevor's head. Elle watched in open mouthed horror. Her face was spattered with blood when she finally looked away.

"No, keep watching. This is the good part." He grabbed a handful of Trevor's hair and ripped the skull off, exposing the brain. He poked and prodded at it. When he found what he was looking for he pointed to the spot. "It's right there. Do you see it?"

Elle looked at the brain and shrugged. "No. Are you going to do that to me?"

He contemplated her forehead. There was some blood on it, but it was not hers. The scar had not emerged yet. "No, not anytime soon."

She gazed at the door. "They're not coming," she whispered. "He would be here by now. But he left me here because he wanted to see it."

This was becoming closer to reality that he cared to admit. She was feeling betrayed by the company, and he had forced her to watch a kill.

She stayed kneeling on the floor, and he knew that she thought she was some kind of prisoner. As he thought about it, maybe she was. "You didn't have to do this," she said.

He went to the kitchen and washed his hands. He brought her a damp towel to wipe off her face. "You didn't have to bring him here."

Her eyes grew wide. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

She had always been so willing to take the blame for what happened, so he never had to answer that question. He looked at Trevor's body again. "No."

He did not kill her that night. For the first time in any of the dreams he could remember, other than the one where she killed him, her skull stayed intact and there was no fire. It was also the first time, other than the dream where she killed him, that she looked at him with such a great level of horror and disgust.

--

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**Author's Note:** It gets tricky when you start killing off real characters. I'm going to keep them to a minimum, but there will be a few more. I'm sorry if they end up being anyone's favorites, but it's not gratuitous. (The unknowns might get a little gratuitous, but I've put thought into each known character.)


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** I rewrote this chapter at least three times, so I have a fear that the flow is completely off.

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**Chapter 14**

–

_Night 61:_

Now that Sylar could easily maintain invisibility, he had no qualms about walking into the company. Once again, he needed to see Elle. Now that he had killed Claude Rains, he did not want to wait to find out her response. It would be more convenient if she did not live there in the facility, but he assumed she had her own reasons for staying there.

When he got to Elle's room, he took her arm and pulled her into the bathroom. She drew in a shuddering breath when she saw him become visible. Then she gave a strained smile. "You're back."

"I don't want to do this here. Will you go somewhere with me?"

Elle nodded, and Sylar took a hold of her hand, turning both of them invisible. "This is going to feel strange," he said as he walked her through the wall. He led her through several more walls and out of the facility.

Outside, Sylar prepared for the next part of their journey. He was pretty sure he would able to teleport with her to his motel about ten miles away. He had expanded his range that far for sure, but he had never tried to jump with another person. He explained that to Elle. "We had to get out of the building because the more walls I have to go through, the more it limits my range."

The jump was successful, and he walked Elle into the room. She had barely said a word since she first saw him, but now she plastered that same fake smile on her face. She seemed at a loss for words. "I'm... so glad that you're back." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pushed her away. "You do realize what this means, right? I killed Claude Rains."

She tilted her head a little, as though she could not believe he had asked that. It was fairly obvious by then that she realized that. "Yes, and I'll grieve for him later, but I get so little time with you, I want to savor what I do get."

He held her at arm length. He had expected more emotion from her. "You're compartmentalizing this really well."

"Well, I have to if I want to be with you. And I want to be with you, Gabriel." Her tone was not convincing. It was not a lie, but it was not quite the truth either.

"I killed your friend!" He wanted to get her to the point where they could talk about the ramifications of that.

Elle blinked hard. "You couldn't possibly think that he meant more to me than my father or my own life. But I forgave you for those. I'm learning that I have a greater capacity for forgiveness than I ever thought."

"It was different then. We weren't--"

"Yes, we were," she said wearily. "We were when you killed me. And I forgave you for that, but you don't need my forgiveness for this. This is exactly what I signed up for. I don't blame you for killing him. It's my fault for putting him on the list in the first place. I'm drawing the boundaries on my end, what I'm willing to do. I know what you're going to do. So, please, let's move on."

That sounded rehearsed. He shook his head. "This isn't what I want, Elle."

Her eyes got wide. "What?" she asked angrily. She conjured a ball of electricity. "What isn't what you want?"

Sylar meant that he did not want her to be docile and forgiving, but apparently she misunderstood. That was good, though, because he wanted her to get angry and she finally had. "I think you know what I mean."

She glanced down at her hand. She closed it but then she seemed to think better of it. She fired at him with both hands. Sylar had almost forgotten how much that hurt. He fell to the floor.

She stood over him. "I don't think you understand who I am, Gab—Sylar. I'm not just some shrinking violet that you can use and throw away. Again!" She gave him a short blast. "You're stuck with me now."

When he tried to sit up, she shocked him again. He pinned her hands over her head to stop her. "I'm not breaking up with you, Elle."

He let her arms drop. She put them behind her back. "Oh, sorry."

He rose to his feet. "So you feel that strongly about staying together?"

She swallowed. "Yeah, I do."

Even though that was not a lie, Sylar did not believe her. She did not react like that just because she thought he was throwing her away again. She reacted because she thought he was doing that after everything she had done for him. He decided right in that moment that he was going to stop pushing her away, because that was the only way to stop hurting her, and because he did not want to lose her.

Elle wrapped her arms around his neck again and pulled his head down with a sense of urgency. He was not sure where this sudden burst of passion had come from, but he let her guide him to the bed.

–

Sylar rolled onto his back and pulled Elle so that she was lying against his chest. She tried not to cry. The sex had been great as always, but she was not compartmentalizing Claude's death as well as she wanted him to think.

He stroked her hair. "I want to make you happy, Elle."

Elle felt that if he really wanted to make her happy, he would not have killed Claude, but she tried to take him at his word. So she made a murmuring sound.

"I mean it. There must be something I can do to make you happy."

There was. Elle really wanted to know that it was worth it. She had gotten Claude killed and sentenced an elderly grandmother to death so that Sylar could have perfect vision. She had not helped him because she believed in his cause or whatever; she did it because she wanted to be with him, to support him. Before, she told him her soul was long gone because she did not want Sylar to worry about it or what he was doing to it. However, the truth was she did think that she had a soul, and she was compromising it out of love for him. And she just wanted to know that it was worth it. But she could not ask him for any of that because it would not mean anything if it was prompted. "Nothing comes to mind."

"I know that's not true," he said kindly. "I wish you would just tell me. Because you've made me really happy, and I want to do that for you."

"You will," she said without thinking. "I mean you do," she corrected, knowing it was too late. She had been distracted by wondering when she had made him really happy. Was that a reference to Claude?

"I know what you want." He changed the room into his apartment in Queens.

Elle looked around. So far, he had never explicitly said anything that conveyed feelings for her, let alone done anything quite so demonstrative. She raised her head to look at him. "But this is part of the problem, my wanting you to be more like Gabriel. This stifles you."

"Right now, I just want to make you happy."

She forced herself to stay realistic about their situation. "Yeah, because you owe me." She figured it was more likely to keep her cooperative, but she did not want to be confrontational so soon after shocking him.

"No, because I love you."

Elle had looked away, but she snapped her head back. He said it really casually, without any fanfare, as though it was not the first time he had said it. But Elle would remember if he had said that before. "What?"

He tucked her hair behind her ear. "I love you, Elle. I loved you since that day we sat right over there and ate half a pie, which was actually only the second day I met you. I never... And then I hated you for a while, but that was only because I had loved you so much."

Elle's heart swelled, but she wanted to be cautious. "So in the car, when you said you didn't care about anyone...?"

He shook his head, remembering. "I just didn't want to hurt you anymore than I already had. I'm not really a good bet. I have the bad habit of killing people you care about. And I can't give you a normal life; I wish I could but--"

"I don't want normal." He smiled at her. She realize he knew that was not true. "Oh, right. Well, yeah, I do, but I would rather be with you than have a normal life."

Sylar started running his hand up and down her side. "When I said I didn't care about you, when I refused to tell you I had any feelings for you... I've been trying to push you away, but I believe that now, that you really want to be with me that much. That you... really love me that much. I'm sorry I killed Claude. I'm sorry for all the ways I've hurt you. But that's not enough, is it? Do you want to electrocute me again?"

"No." He surprised her by asking that. After the last time they spoke, she had the opportunity to stop him from killing Claude, to at least warn her friend, and by not doing that, she was putting all her eggs in Sylar's basket. So when she thought he was breaking off their partnership after she made that kind of sacrifice, she lost control a little. But that was not what he was doing. Instead he gave her the one thing she wanted, the one thing that could make it all worth it. "It is enough. You love me, and that's enough for me."

He ran his hand all the way up around the back of her head and pulled her mouth down on his. This time Elle felt a lot better about kissing him. When they had sex earlier, she was trying to force her way passed the fact that he had killed Claude, and she had even had momentary doubts that she really did still want to be with Sylar. But now everything was different. He rolled her onto her back, and then he got out of the bed, which was not what Elle expected him to do. He changed the room back to the motel room. Elle felt like somehow they had hit a setback. She sat up and held the sheet tucked under her arms.

He handed her the list from the table. "This is your one chance. Take out any pages that you don't want me to have. After that, they're all fair game."

Elle was a little relieved, but she felt this was another test. "No, it's fine." She tried to give it back, but he would not take it.

"I don't want to hurt you, Elle, but I will if you give me the chance. Just look through it, rethink some of the choices."

Elle laid the list down in her lap and looked at it. No one was coming to her mind. She thought about all the partners she had and all the people in the company she had once considered friends, including prisoners. She flipped through the pages of the America packet, but it was not until she got to the Peter Petrelli page that she felt anything. She stopped at that page, trying to decide whether she was willing to admit that she liked Peter and whether she could live with herself if he was killed just because she would not admit it. She finally rationalized that Sylar did not need the list to know about Peter Petrelli, so it would not matter whether she took the page. Peter was not just another evolved human to Sylar, and the decision to kill him would be personal.

Elle went backwards in the list and removed Matt Parkman's page. She did this for two reasons. One, she did not want Sylar reading her mind, and two, she needed to take something so that he knew that she was taking him seriously. Parkman seemed like as good a person as any. She took out the page for Molly Walker too, just for good measure. She was just a child.

As Elle handed back the list, she thought about her hesitation regarding Peter, which made her think about other things, namely Maya. She could not help it; she wanted to hear him say that he did not want Maya and that she, Elle, was so much more to him than that. She just could not think of a good way to bring it up without sounding petty. "So about Maya--"

She was going to say that she wanted to just clear up everything and put Maya behind them, but Sylar rolled his eyes and cut her off. "God, Elle, do you have any idea how ridiculous it is for you to be jealous of Maya? I wasn't even—I was barely attracted to her. The first time I kissed her, it was to distract her from discovering that I killed her brother. She never meant anything to me except power. You..." He sat on the bed next to her. "I'm just going to make this clear. The first time I had sex was the summer after I graduated from high school with a girl I didn't even like. When I met you, I was almost thirty, and I'd only been in two semi-serious relationships, not including that girl. There's never been anyone like you for me."

"When I was eighteen, I lost my virginity to a four hundred year old man." Elle did not know why that was her first response to everything he had said, but she wanted to give him an idea of how pathetic her own love life had been before him.

"I think the most disturbing thing about that statement is that I know it's true."

Elle laughed. "He didn't look four hundred. He had spontaneous regeneration, and apparently they stop aging eventually. So he looked, like, thirty. Anyway, I had never been on a date; I had hardly even left the company since moving there ten years before. And I just liked the way he made me feel, wanted." Looking back on it, it seemed so sordid. She shook that off. "My father was really not happy about that."

"He knew?"

Elle realized that she had left out an important part of the story. "Uh, yeah. It happened on Level 3, where pretty much anyone could have seen. He was a prisoner. But back then I was kind of a prisoner too in a way." Adam Monroe was the last person she wanted to talk about. "But as much as I like feeling wanted, because I really do, I was always waiting for something more. I've always wanted to feel loved."

He turned his head away, as though it suddenly hurt to look at her. "I want to give you that, Elle, but I killed you."

This reaction surprised her. He already made her feel loved just by saying that he loved her. She had not been asking him for anything; she was trying to tell him how happy he had made her. Just the fact that he still loved her after she electrocuted him earlier that evening told her how right this relationship was. Elle knew that she was not making it easy for him to get over killing her. She probably brought it up as much as he did. She resolved to be better about that. "You know, I'm not sure whether I ever really meant it when I said I forgave you. I guess you would know that better than I would. It's not an easy thing to get over, and we've been in these intense situations where there's no time for working that out. So when I said that I forgave you I meant that I would forgive, I was willing to forgive you."

Elle scooted closer to Sylar. "But tonight, despite the fact that you killed my friend, you've made me happier than I've ever been before." She recalled the day they met again at Pinehearst. "I forgive you now. I really do. Maybe it's time for you to forgive yourself. Because I love you, Gabriel, and I believe we can move on from that night."

"I think it was easier for you to forgive yourself for following orders than for me to do so for..." He shook his head.

She climbed on top of him. "You know, you've done more than just hurt me all the time. You took my pain away at Pinehearst, and you protected me from Bennet during the eclipse, getting yourself killed. And I've hurt you, too, much more literally. I know we don't have a great past, and the future... yeah, it looks a little shaky. I think we should just focus on the present."

"I can do that." Sylar leaned her back so that her head was at the foot of the bed. If Elle had really thought about it, she would have realized that the sex they had then was no different from any other time. However, she had waited her whole life, or at least since she was eighteen, to have a man, not just have sex with her, but make love to her, and she decided that was exactly what Sylar was doing.

--

--

**Author's note**: I don't like to give things away, but, lest you think I'm some kind of sadist, I will assure you that I'm not going to kill off Peter. Also, Gabriel was totally shy around women. I don't know how he became the intensely sexual villian he did, but that was not there before. And the part about Adam is practically canon.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: **I feel like Elle and Sylar need a proper Bonnie and Clyde scene.

–

–

**Chapter 15**

Elle wanted nothing more than to curl up in Sylar's arms and fall asleep, but she knew that she could not spend the night with him this time. Depending on how closely she was being watched, people might notice if she was not in her room in the morning. So she forced herself to get up. "I have to go back."

He yawned and nodded somewhat groggily. "I'll take you in a minute."

As Elle got dressed, she watched Sylar stretching on the bed. She was filled with a longing for that normal life she knew was never going to happen. "Are we ever going to be together?"

He did not say anything for a few seconds. His eyes were closed, and Elle thought he had fallen asleep. Then, without opening his eyes, he said, "We'll see what happens after I kill Angela."

They had discussed killing Angela nearly a month before. "And when are you going to do that?"

"Tomorrow." He raised his head and looked at the clock. "Today." He sat up, more alert. "We have to talk about how that's going to go down. Because I don't think I would come to the company and not see you, to taunt you or hurt you. I mean, we need to handle this the way we would if we weren't..." He seemed at a loss for how to define their relationship. He finally settled on, "Partners."

"Well, I know what I would do, so you just go ahead and do what you would do, and I will react accordingly. Do you want this to be the one I witness?"

"No!" he said loudly. He gave her a fake grin. "You don't have to do that anymore. I'm done testing you; you don't have to do anything to prove yourself to me."

Elle was confused by his reaction. "I really don't mind. Especially if you think you would force me to watch if I wasn't your partner."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You are my partner, though. And what I would do is try to make you hate me, which not what I want. And then I would hurt you, physically, emotionally, any way I could think of, and I don't want to do that either."

Elle understood what he was saying. "That's what you were doing when you killed my father. You taunted me with the gun and then you tried to kill me. But why would you want to do that to me now? What have I done to make you hate me this time?"

He raised his eyebrows as though it should be obvious. "The same things you did before. You lied and manipulated me. You used what we had that I thought was real to help the company hurt me."

She sat down next to him. "You thought what we had was real after you killed me?"

Sylar was quiet, thinking about that. "What did you tell them happened the day you woke up in my motel room."

Elle could barely even remember. "You choked me, you grabbed my arm, but you said something that led me to believe that you still have feelings for me." She shrugged, but then she recalled something more. "And you let me run out of the room. And I hitchhiked to Bennet's house. No gas station."

He grew pensive again. Then he nodded. "I need to get you back soon."

Something occurred to Elle. "Wait. I meant to tell you this before, but I got distracted when you said you were going to kill Claude. There is a slight possibility that when Angela dies, Bennet will take over, and that will be bad for you. When we had you asleep, Annie and I could have killed you any time we wanted, but Angela gave the order to keep you alive. Bennet's orders will be the exact opposite."

He shrugged off her warning. "I'm not scared of Bennet."

Sylar got out of bed and pulled on some pants. Elle was a little worried that his arrogance was going to be his downfall. "Just as long as you're aware."

–

Elle woke up in her own bed after getting about four hours of sleep. She turned off her alarm and rolled over in bed. She started to go back to sleep, but then she realized that she needed to treat this like a normal day. She could not let anyone know that she had been out all night. So she forced herself to go into the bathroom and take a cold shower, which woke her up really well.

She went through her routine, but it was difficult to concentrate when she was just waiting for Sylar to show up and drag her to Angela's office. She often found her mind wandering to all the possibilities of what he might do to try to hurt her. She could understand his hesitation about that. It was not something she was looking forward to either.

In a full day of work, Elle only managed to type up two reports. After five, she stayed in her office because Sylar still had not shown up. By six-thirty she was getting scared that something happened to him, and a few minutes after seven she left her office. In the hallway, she saw Annie. That was strange because it was after hours and Annie rarely came to the Hartsdale facility. She usually worked out of Odessa. In fact, Elle had not seen her since the last night they worked together. She approached her former partner cautiously. "What brings you to New York?"

"Angela called me."

Elle felt that she should apologize for how they had left things. "Annie, I've been meaning to tell you that I didn't mean what I said about helping Sylar hunt you down. I was frustrated, and... I wouldn't do that."

Elle thought that it would have been nice if Annie apologized for saying she hoped Sylar killed Elle again, but apparently that was beyond Annie. She just stared back at Elle without a word, as though she expected more from Elle.

Elle remembered again how much she hated Annie. She was definitely going to help Sylar kill her. But it did not hurt to be cordial now. "Come on, Annie--" Elle stopped because Annie was looking behind her with an expression of horror.

A familiar voice came from behind her. "So this is Annie?"

Annie stood frozen in place, and Elle knew that she could not move. She turned around to face Sylar. He raised his hand, but then he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Elle went back and grabbed Annie's arm before she could do anything drastic. "We have to get out of here." She ran down the hall, pulling Annie with her.

–

Sylar woke up with a splitting headache. He had not expected Annie to be able to use her power when she was paralyzed, but apparently he underestimated her. An alarm started to blare. He stopped it and teleported directly into Angela's office.

Angela was standing near a bookshelf, taking down a shotgun. He threw the gun across the room and forced her into her chair. Looking at her now, he realized that he wanted to kill her for more reasons than just that she was the head of the company. First, he wanted to know why. Why had she lied about being his mother?

Before he got the chance to do that, however, the door opened. Elle came running in and then stopped suddenly. Annie collided with her. Using telekinesis, he pulled both of them into the room and locked the door.

He banged Annie's head against the door several times. "She should be out for a while." He turned to Elle, who looked terrified. "Hello, Elle. It's good to see you again."

She raised her hands to shock him and he threw her against the wall, next to Annie's limp body.

He gestured around the room. "So here we have the three people who were involved in the latest scheme to control me."

From the desk, Angela said, "Now's your chance, Elle. Prove that you're worth something."

Elle laughed indignantly, and Sylar was intrigued. "I would love to see you prove that you're worth something."

She sighed. "Please let me down. I promise I'm not going to shock you. I only want to talk. You know I'm not lying."

He released her and she approached him slowly. "I'm sorry, Gabriel." It worried him the way she said that. "I'm sorry for all the ways I've hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you, though. The company never wanted to hurt you. We're trying to help you."

Sylar was not sure what was happening. He sat in one of the chairs in front of Angela's desk. "How?"

She spoke in a soothing voice. "Angela was only trying to love you and nurture you. It was wrong to lie to you, but she wanted to help you become something better than what you are. And that's what I want for you, too."

He was still confused. He thought about what Angela had said; Elle was proving that she was worth something as a company agent. The night before, he had decided to trust her, but she was not making it easy. "I tried to become a better person, and I failed at it."

She got down on her knees in front of him and took his hands in hers. "You can try harder this time. I love you, Gabriel, but I can't be with you if you're going to keep killing people. Stay here with us. Let us help you. Let us be the family you've always wanted."

"You love me?" She nodded. "Then you'll still love me after I kill Angela."

Her jaw quivered, and it looked like she was going to cry. "No. I won't."

He felt a tingle that told him that was a lie. He pushed her away and turned to face Angela. "She's lying. She will still love me after you're dead. Was that really your best attempt to stop me?"

Angela shook her head at Elle. "You're useless."

Elle got to her feet. She smiled at Sylar. "Of course, I'll still love you. I'll always love you, no matter what you do to her." She looked at Angela, and her tone turned harsh. "Because you know what? I'm going to work on saving my own life now. You have never treated me with any kind of respect, and I have done everything you've asked of me." She was backing up toward the door as she said this. She tried the handle. "Dammit," she said when she found that she could not open it.

She walked back to him. "I'm revoking my promise. If you try to kill me, I will shock you as much as I did the day you killed my father, which allowed us to capture you last time. Or you can walk out of here."

Sylar found that to be an empty threat. "Didn't you lose control after that? Weren't you in so much pain that you begged me to kill you?"

Elle sighed and sank into the chair next to his and crossed her arms. "What's it going to take to save my life?"

"I'll let you know." Sylar stood. "Well, Angela, this has been fun, but it's time to stop stalling." He raised his hand.

"I know who your real parents are." Angela said. "You _were_ adopted, and if you kill me, you'll never find out who they are."

Sylar looked at Elle. She was staring at the corner, but now she looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know anything about that."

He looked where she had been looking. There was a camera, which explained a lot. He had wondered for whom Elle was putting on a show. He ripped it off the wall telekinetically. "Is that the only camera?"

"Yes," Elle said slowly and deliberately.

He knew she was lying. "The only thing you have to do for me not to kill you is shoot out the rest of the cameras."

Elle's eyes lit up. "Okay." She shot out three more hidden cameras. "That's all the ones I know about."

"Did she get everything, Angela?"

Angela stared at him with cold eyes. "I'm not telling you anything."

He choked her. "It's a yes or no question."

"Yes," Angela gasped out.

Now that he knew no one was watching, Sylar pulled Elle to her feet. "God, you're amazing." He kissed her. He turned to Angela, wanting her to know Elle's part in this. "Just so you know, Elle is far from useless. She really could have convinced me not to kill you tonight. Except she was the one who convinced me to kill you in the first place."

Angela looked away, disgusted. "After everything we did for you..."

It felt really good to just be psychotic, but Sylar needed to pull himself back. After that dream he had about killing Trevor, he decided that he did not want Elle to witness a kill. He did not want her to look at him like she did in that dream. "Turn around, Elle. Watch Annie and kill her if she wakes up."

Elle walked over to Annie. "I think you already killed her. She's been unconscious for a long time." She knelt down to check for a pulse.

As Elle confirmed that Annie was in fact dead, she heard Angela mention his parents again. She stopped mid-sentence and screamed. Right then, Elle remembered how it felt when Sylar killed her on the beach. Seeing the bodies had not triggered that memory, but the screaming did. When it stopped, she turned around. She could not see anything because Sylar had Angela on the floor behind the desk. "What about your parents? Was she telling the truth?"

Sylar stood up. His arms were covered in blood up to the elbows. "It seemed like it. That can be your new assignment. Find out who my parents are."

Elle stared at his arms. When she killed people, there was never any blood, and she never had to touch her victims. She wanted to tell him that was disgusting, but she shook herself out of it. "Do you really think I'll still have my job after tonight?"

He disappeared behind the desk. "Review the tape with Bennet. You did nothing wrong."

"You don't really eat the brains, right? I mean that wouldn't make sense."

He peeked his head up again. Elle was pleased to note that there was no blood on his face. "Is that really what everyone thinks?"

He was so right. She did not need to witness this. She would explain to him later all the reasons why she should really be off site for all future killings. She decided that she was not even going to ask what he did do with the brains. She tried to remember what they had been talking about before that. "Oh, yeah, I'll find out what I can about your parents."

He stood again, apparently done this time. He nodded at Annie's body. "She dead?"

"Yeah, what do we do now?"

He moved Annie's body away from the door. "I'm going to walk out, and as soon as I do, you call whoever you would call if we weren't partners."

Elle nodded. "Bennet."

He came around the desk. "I'll see you soon, Elle," he said, and then he walked out.

Elle pulled out her cell phone and found Bennet's number. She hit the send button and listened to it ring. She tried to find the right balance of fear and professionalism as she said, "Sylar was here. He—He killed Angela."


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** First of all, classes start tomorrow (Monday), so I'll do what I can. Also, as a reminder, I'm using the Pinehearst stuff between Nathan and Peter, but not the scene with Nathan and the President. Hopefully you can keep track of that. Lastly, Gael Cruz is from the graphic novels.

–

–

**Chapter 16**

When Elle called Noah, she expected him to be in California, but he was only in Maryland. He was looking into something in the Chobham murder. Elle stopped herself from asking why he was doing that without her as his partner, because it was not the time for that. He said he would take care of everything, and he told her not to touch anything and to stay right where she was until he got there, which Elle knew was going to take at least an hour or two. She understood, however, that he was going to have a lot of questions for her.

When she hung up with Noah, she wanted to call Peter, but she did not have the number. She went around the other side of the desk, trying not to look at Angela. In one of the drawers, she found Angela's purse with her cell phone in it.

Peter answered with a sigh, "What do you want, Mom?"

Elle cringed because she knew he was going to regret that attitude when he heard the news. "It's Elle. Peter, I'm so sorry. Sylar killed your mother in her office today."

She was startled when, as soon as she said that, Peter popped himself into the room. "Right, you can do _that."_ Peter started for the desk, but Elle held him back. "You don't want to see it."

Ignoring her warning, Peter walked behind the desk. He covered his mouth in horror. Elle wondered if Peter had ever seen one of Sylar's victims up close before, because if not, that would make it all the worse on him. "Wh--" He opened his mouth to ask several different questions, but none came out. Elle figured he could not think of any to which he did not already know the answer. Finally he asked, "When did this happen?"

"About ten minutes ago." Elle did not know what to say to Peter now. "I'm sorry."

Peter walked over to Annie's body and checked for a pulse. "How did you find them so quickly?"

"I was here when it happened. He locked us in this room and--"

Peter stood up. "Wait. So he killed my mother, and he killed this woman, but you don't have a scratch on you? Why is that?"

Elle shrugged. "I don't know."

He took a step forward and cocked his head. She could tell he did not believe her, but he just said, "Did you call Nathan yet?"

Elle had forgotten completely about Nathan. "No."

Peter rubbed his hand on his pants. "Can we go out in the hall?"

Elle did not think that Peter needed her permission to leave the room. "You can do whatever you want."

He gestured for her to lead the way. That was when Elle realized that when he said "we," he meant it. "I'm going to call Nathan, and then I want to talk more about what happened tonight."

While Peter was making his phone call, something occurred to Elle. If she did not want Bennet to take over the company, there were things she could do to stop it. When Peter hung up the phone, she said, "I know that it might be too soon for you to talk about this, but we need to think about the future of this company. I think you should try to take control of it."

He looked confused. "I don't work here, Elle. I'm a hospice nurse. I don't know anything about this company."

The more Elle thought about it, the more she liked this idea. "Not right now, but you could change that. You are the perfect choice. You are the son of not one but two founders, and you are very powerful in your own right. As an evolved human myself, I don't want this company being run by someone like Noah Bennet."

"Why not?"

"He's not one of us, Peter. He doesn't see us as people. I mean, he loves Claire, and I'm sure he gets along well enough with your family for her sake, but in general... It's not just Noah either. Gael Cruz, who's dead now, was the second in command under my father. He was engaged to one of us, an evolved human, and he still called us freaks on at least one occasion. This company needs to be led by someone like you. At least promise me you'll think about it."

For a second, it appeared that Peter was thinking about it, but he shook his head. "Nathan will know what to do when he gets here. Did you tell anyone else?"

Elle rolled her eyes at that comment about Nathan. "Yeah, Bennet's on his way. Don't get me wrong, he's a good agent, and _he'll_ know how to handle this. I just don't think that he's the kind of leadership this company needs."

Peter looked at a loss. "I don't know what to do right now, except wait for someone else to tell me what to do. I'm not a leader."

In some ways, Elle believed that. He was a good choice for all the reasons she said. She believed that Peter was a good man, and that he would make good choices, but the real reason she wanted him to take control was because she did not believe he had what it would take to kill Sylar. "You're just in shock because your mother was murdered."

He shook his head. "No, it's more than that. I'm not trained for this. I'm not sure if you realize this, but I was on Level 5 the day your father was killed. I saw how you handled the situation after you found your parent murdered. You took charge, and you did something."

Elle did not remember Peter being there. "Yeah, I released all the prisoners. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, Peter. When you had no powers, you stopped your father."

"Sylar stopped my father. I'll take responsibility for killing him because I pulled the trigger, but I can't take the credit for it."

She was about to remind him of the strength it took to go up against his own brother, but then she saw Nathan emerge from the stairwell. She lowered her voice. "You have to get over these doubts, because you're the one we need, Peter." She nodded to Nathan as he walked up. "Senator."

Nathan regarded her dismissively. "Who's this?"

She held out her hand, and Nathan shook it. "I'm Elle. We met briefly at Pinehearst. I was the one who discovered your mother's body."

"I thought you were there when it happened," Peter said.

"I was." Elle did not pay much attention to Peter because Nathan was going into the office. "You don't want to go in there."

He ignored her. Peter and Elle followed him in. "Do you know what Sylar does to people?" Elle asked.

Nathan's reaction, which was to throw up in the trashcan, told Elle that he had not been aware of the specifics. "What kind of sick person..."

Elle gave a little smile. She really did not like Nathan very much. Peter gave her a look and shook his head at her. She was not sure what that was about.

When Nathan recovered, he asked, "Have you called the police yet?"

"No," Elle said. "We can't do that."

Nathan looked incredulous. "What we can't do is cover up a murder. For god's sake, I'm a senator. I can't be involved in something like that."

Elle clenched her jaw. "With all due respect, Senator Petrelli, you don't work here. I called Noah Bennet, and he is going to take care of everything. If you try to go to the police without Bennet giving the okay, I will stop you." She sparked up her hand.

He turned to Peter. "I see you're still associating with thugs."

Elle liked being referred to as a thug. "Then we're agreed to wait for Bennet?"

Peter pulled her into the hallway and whispered to her. "If you really want one of us running the company, you should try being nicer to Nathan. He's a leader."

Elle kept her eyes on what was happening in the room, because it would be a disaster if the police were called. "Nathan? You want Nathan to run the company after everything you just did to stop him at Pinehearst?"

Peter sighed and went back to his brother without a word. Elle knew she had hit a nerve there. The three of them waited awkwardly for another half hour before Noah showed up. Peter asked Elle to tell him what exactly had happened, but she did not want to have to tell the story any more times than necessary. She told him he could hear it when she told it to Noah.

When Noah finally arrived, Elle could tell he was surprised to see the Petrelli sons there. She greeted him and said, "I notified Peter. Calling Nathan was his idea."

Noah nodded and surveyed the room. He walked behind the desk and regarded Angela's body coldly. Then he looked back at Elle. "You didn't mention that he killed Annie. I have to ask, did you enjoy watching that as much as you thought you would?"

Elle tried to ignore the way Nathan and Peter were looking at her. "No. I was just angry when I said that."

Noah gestured for two agents to come in. Elle recognized them as part of the clean-up crew. Noah led everyone else out of the office. "From now on, your mother died from a brain aneurysm. She went like that." He snapped his fingers. "She will, of course, need to be cremated. I'm sorry for your loss." To Elle, he said, "Let's go to the control room, and you can tell me all about what happened here tonight."

Elle looked back at the Petrellis. "I told Peter that he could be there when I tell my story."

"That's fine," Noah said somewhat insincerely. "Nathan, are you coming, too?"

"I'm going to stay here and make the arrangements for my mother."

Noah started walking. "Both guards in the control room were killed tonight. Their bodies have already been disposed of. I've talked to several people, and it appears all the agents were sent on wild goose chases. You, Angela, and Annie were the only people here, except the prisoners. So I want to see whatever security footage there is and then hear your side of the story."

Elle had to walk quickly to keep up. "Actually, most of it was caught on camera before he ripped it out of the wall. You'll see."

In the control room, Elle, Noah, and Peter watched the security footage. There was no audio, but Elle gave an accurate account of what was said. There was no need for her to lie. She even admitted to turning on Angela and trying to save her own life. "And then he notices the camera."

"He noticed the camera because you were staring at it," Noah remarked

"I had just remembered that it was there, and I was wondering if anyone was going to come to our rescue."

Noah switched to another camera. That one cut off not long after the last one did. "He told me that he wouldn't kill me if I shot out the rest of the cameras. And that seemed like a good deal."

"It doesn't seem like he really intended to kill you at all."

Watching it again on the small television screen, she had to admit that Noah had a point. "I didn't want to take any chances."

Noah nodded. "So what happened after the cameras went out?"

Elle thought back on that. Figuring she could skip most of it, she shrugged. "He killed Angela."

Peter had been leaning against one of desks, but now he stood straight. "He kissed you?"

She looked up at Peter. Had he just read her mind?

"Yes, I did," Peter said.

Elle had forgotten about that. Now she needed to think up a lie without thinking about it. "Okay, Sylar pulled me to my feet. He kissed me. He said he wasn't done with me yet and I might prove very useful. And then he told me to turn around while he killed Angela. Then he left, covered in her blood, and I called you."

Noah pushed his chair away from the console and stood up. "I can't trust you, so I don't see that I have any choice but to fire you."

"Okay, so you're in charge now?" She glanced at Peter.

Peter sighed. "She could be telling the truth." He pulled Noah to the side. "Think about it. When my mother fired her the first time, she went to work for my father and hooked up with Sylar. And, according to Elle, when my mother said she was worthless, Elle told Sylar she didn't care what he did to her anymore. If you fire her, you'll be sending her right back to him, because he doesn't think she's worthless."

Noah made a disgusted sound. Sylar killed Elle, and he, Noah, brought her back from the dead. Yet he knew that Peter was right. Elle would forget about all of that and lash out at him if she thought he was treating her badly. He thought briefly about locking her up, at the very least to use her as bait for Sylar, but if that backfired, it could end up being a disaster. While he was thinking about what to do with an Elle he could not trust, Peter spoke again.

"I've also been thinking that the head of the company should be someone with abilities."

Noah looked over at Elle. He did not have to ask where that had come from. "Why?"

"This company was created to deal with people who have abilities. To help them or stop them or do whatever is best with regard to them. I don't think someone who isn't one of us should be making the choices about what is best for us."

Noah never wanted to run the company. As recently as six months before, he had been actively trying to take it down. On his way up from Maryland, he called all the highest ranking people, and, while several expressed interest in power, it seemed none of them wanted to be responsible for the Sylar problem. None of them wanted to be responsible for the budget problem either. Without Bob and Linderman, the Petrelli money was the only thing keeping this company afloat. Noah thought it might be best to just let the company die, but that was not what they wanted either. So if that happened, the company would fracture into several companies, and that would be worse.

"Are you saying that you want to take over the company?" All Noah cared about was protecting Claire, and he knew Peter would do that. Still, he had reservations about handing over the reins.

"Maybe."

"He's a Petrelli," Elle said from her chair. "Money, power, and respect. And money."

This coming from Elle who was sitting on her own personal fortune. Noah had been running the company for less than an hour, and he already hated it. It was so tempting to just hand off the headache. "Right now, I'm in charge. But I will think about what you're saying. Elle, you still have your job, but you are on probation." Noah realized that was meaningless because she was already on probation.

Nathan was standing at the door. "What was that about the Petrellis and money?"

"It's not about the money," Noah said. "But we need someone to run this company who can unite it. And Peter is--"

Nathan laughed. "Peter? Peter has never run anything in his life."

That was something that concerned Noah too. He looked at Elle.

She was twisting back and forth in her chair. "Nathan's not as powerful, but he'd still be respected as a Petrelli. And he is a senator."

Noah did not know why he was taking advice from her. Except, as Bob Bishop's daughter and a long time resident of the facility, she might know more about the actual running of the company than he did.

She continued. "If you want a figurehead that can unite the company, you need to look at the founders' children. Now, no one respects me, and I'm young anyway. I doubt Parkman wants to work here, and Maury wasn't so respected anyway. Hiro Nakamura seems like a gamble. I think the two men standing in front of you are the best bet. And Nathan was just involved in that whole mess at Pinehearst. My money's on Peter."

Noah thought about what Elle was saying as he regarded the two men. He liked Peter more than Nathan, but Nathan was a better choice for many other reasons, leadership experience and money being the main ones. "I agree with Elle. We need a figurehead. And maybe you don't even want it, Nathan, with all that you have going on, but you two need to figure it out among yourselves."

He checked his watch. It was only seven in California, and he needed to call Sandra again. He was working so hard to repair his relationship with Claire, but he could not leave New York until this was settled. "I want an answer tomorrow," he said, and he walked out.

--

--

**Author's Note**: Every time I write another canon character, I have to stop and think "What's this guy's deal?" Characterization is really important to me, and Nathan and Peter were challenges. Feedback is greatly appreciated, on them or anyone.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note**: This may be hard to believe, but I spent more free time on this (and less on school) than I should have. It was just difficult to get the first scene right.

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**Chapter 17 **

--

_Night 62:_

Back in his motel room, Sylar had what he considered the most disturbing and confusing dream yet.

Having killed Angela, he had her ability of precognitive dreams, which was something he kept in mind as he went to sleep that night. He also kept in mind that, even with this ability, sometimes a dream was just a dream.

In this dream, Sylar was standing in Angela's former office. He knew somehow that he was only there as an observer. Nathan Petrelli was sitting behind the desk, looking over a file. Sylar was deciding how to feel about that development when Elle walked in and stood in front of the desk. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Nathan put aside whatever he had been working on. He seemed a little unsure of himself. "Yes. Please have a seat."

Elle sat down in one of the chairs. Nathan came around the front of the desk and sat on the edge. "I imagine you know why I wanted to talk to you."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I am your boss, whether you like it or not. Your behavior has been inappropriate."

Elle looked up at him with a small smile. "How inappropriate?"

Sylar was just trying to keep up with the conversation. He had a sinking feeling that this was not the insubordination kind of inappropriate. Nathan was looking really uncomfortable, and he would probably know how to handle defiance from a staff member.

Nathan cleared his throat. "Very inappropriate, because I am your employer. Now, I've been warned about you, Elle."

She laughed. "About what?"

"That you like to toy with people, push buttons." He stopped talking and stared at her for a few seconds. "You have been nothing but antagonistic since I started working here, so I have to wonder why you are suddenly so eager to get me into bed."

"There's no need to wonder about it. It's because you're a challenge." She stood up and got close to him. "You're rich and powerful, it's inappropriate, but mostly, I want to get you into bed because you don't like me. And I can't stand it when men don't like me."

At this point, she was pressed up against him. "Why is that?" asked Nathan, with a slight hitch in his voice.

"Because I was a constant disappointment to my father. Did they tell you that? Nothing I did was good enough; I could never please him. So to have another employer who treats me like a screw-up?" She shook her head. "That's not what I want. But now there's finally an easy solution. If you give me a chance to please you, I can make you like me a lot, Nathan."

Sylar was not sure how anything she had said in that little speech would make Nathan want to sleep with her. He was biased of course, because he wanted Nathan to turn down her offer. He supposed if a person was unencumbered by any morality he might find it easy to take advantage of a young, attractive employee with admitted father issues. Sylar also saw the irony in him passing any judgment on Nathan's morality, especially considering what he had done to Elle.

Nathan lowered his head to kiss Elle, as Sylar knew he would. The two of them turned around so that Elle was the one sitting on the desk. Nathan moved his mouth down to her neck, and Elle started to unbutton her blouse. Sylar did not think he could watch much more. He turned his head, but he could still hear them rustling and knocking things off the desk. Then Elle started to moan, and Sylar looked back. He was thinking that Elle was going to have to start bleeding from her forehead soon.

She had lost her shirt and was now unbuckling Nathan's belt. Please, thought Sylar, please start bleeding. When he decided it was taking too long, he raised his hand to help the blood along.

He woke up before anything else happened. These dreams were getting troublesome. In the beginning, he would just dream about having a perfectly nice time with Elle, and then she would start bleeding from her head and drop dead. He had no idea that he would one day long for those dreams. At least their meaning was clear.

This was not normal. It was some side effect of Elle's fake haunting. Somehow she tricked his subconscious into thinking that he wanted to be tortured in new and disturbing ways.

What made it worse was Angela's ability. How could he know when he was having one of those dreams and not a regular nightmare? Sylar was afraid he already knew the answer to that. This dream felt different from the others. It felt real, important. It felt a lot like how it used to feel when he could paint the future.

And of course, it had to come the night after he told Elle that he loved her. He had been holding her at arm's length, thinking that was best to keep both of them from getting hurt. Now he finally trusted her and was willing to rely on her loyalty, and he had to dream about her having sex with Nathan Petrelli of all people.

What did it mean? Because if this was a vision, it had to mean something different from what it seemed like. The precognitive vision that came with painting had always been very literal, but he refused to believe that this dream was literally what was going to happen in the future.

–

Elle sat in the control room while Nathan and Peter had a heated discussion in the hall. She knew that she should probably go to her room because they did not need her there, but she felt that they should have an agent present to monitor what was happening. After all, until they agree on who should take over, neither one of them worked there. Plus, she loved eavesdropping on things like this.

"Why do you even want this? The formula's gone, Nathan; you can't give abilities to anyone anymore. Don't you have senatorial things to keep you busy?"

"These people are dangerous, Pete. This company seems to be the only way to control them. This could end up being just as important as my work in the Senate."

They went back and forth saying the same things. Nathan talked about being a senator and more responsible. Peter reminded him of all the bad decisions Nathan had made and stressed that he knew more about abilities and the company. Elle enjoyed it for a while, but then her mind started to wander.

When Noah threatened to fire her before, she had forgotten that she did not want to work at the company anymore. It had been her life for so long that she had not stopped to think about the alternatives. The alternative was that she could be with Sylar instead of sitting around doing busy work and being underappreciated. Sylar wanted her to stay at the company, though. He claimed that he thought she would do him the most good there, and she tried not to consider other possibilities, like maybe he did not want her around all the time. Because he loved her, so he must want her too.

–

Nathan won out in the end, which was no surprise to Elle. Peter seemed to be a pushover when it came to his brother, although Elle was not sure he had actually lost to Nathan. Peter was still going to work at the company. Since Nathan would need to spend so much of his time in Washington, and since Peter commanded as much respect among the employees of the company, Elle had a feeling that Peter would push through more of his agenda than Nathan realized.

A few days later, once Nathan had settled into his office, Elle went to see him. She knew he would be flying off to Washington soon, and she wanted to smooth things over with the new boss before he left. She knocked but did not bother to wait for him to invite her in. "I feel like we may have gotten off on the wrong foot before."

He smiled at her. "Ah, yes, Elle Bishop. Do you have any idea why your personnel file is empty?"

Elle had some ideas, mostly that her father was trying to hide what he had done to her, or allowed to be done to her. She still was not clear on the specifics. Regardless, Nathan did not need to know about those things. He might hear about it anyway, but she was not going to be the one to tell him. "No. So I wanted to apologize in case you felt that I had been rude to you the night your mother was killed."

"Apology accepted."

"Good, because as the head of the company—figurehead, really—you need to understand that we cannot go to the police when things get bad. The police don't know what to do with us. They don't even know about us. This company was founded, in part, to be a regulatory agency. We police our kind. You understand that, right?"

Nathan sucked on his teeth. "Yes. That is what I am most interest in, regulating your kind."

Elle did not know if that was a slip of the tongue or if he actually considered her kind to be something different from his kind. She stood. "Our kind, but I'm glad that we're on the same page about involving law enforcement. Well, I'm going to let you get back to studying, because I'm sure you have so much more to learn." She left the office, reminding herself that Nathan would be gone soon.

After a second, she backtracked and stuck her head back in the office. "One more thing, if it's all right with you, I'm going to move out of the facility. I think it's time I get my own place."

Nathan dismissed Elle with a gesture, suggesting to her that he did not care. When Angela was alive, she had insisted that Elle remain at the facility, so that they could keep an eye on her, but Nathan did not need to know that either.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Because I feel like someone might want to know, nothing in this chapter is from the graphic novels (not even John Celiano's name). It's pure conjecture.

**--**

**--**

**Chapter 18**

The dream Sylar had about Elle and Nathan was not a one time occurrence. His nightmares seemed to be gone, but he was left with these dreams about Nathan. They did not come to him every night. Over the course of about a week, he had two more dreams of a similar nature. One showed him what Elle had done that Nathan deemed so inappropriate, and the other took place in an apartment he had never seen before. When he got a phone message from Elle, telling him that she was moving out of the facility, he was sure that he knew exactly what her new place looked like.

Sylar had not stayed away from Elle because of the dreams. He was taking those in stride. He just knew that she would be under extra scrutiny after surviving his attack. Now that she was sure that the coast was clear, he knew that he had to go see her.

He made the decision not to tell Elle about these new dreams, just as he had not mentioned anything about any of the other dreams he had. They were just dreams. If they revealed some kind of future, he would deal with that in the future.

--

_Night 70:_

On her first night in her new apartment, Elle was confident that she knew all of the company's tricks and that there were no cameras or any other kind of surveillance equipment hidden about the place. She did not know if Sylar would come see her that night; he had his own timetable to work with, but she knew that the more time went by, the easier it would be for Noah or his minions to get something past her. So she was pleased when Sylar did turn up that night, starling her by appearing in her living room out of thin air.

She could tell right away that something was wrong. It was clear from the way he looked at her apartment and the way he looked at her. She tried to shrug it off because they were in a good place, but she had thought that they were in a good place when he killed her, too. She could not mention that though, because she had resolved not to bring it up as much. Since he was not really saying anything, Elle figured she would get the ball rolling. "I suppose you want to know what's been happening at the company since Angela's death."

"Yeah." He was not paying much attention. Instead, he was looking around her living room as though he was trying to memorize the details.

"There's no bugs," she said, in case that was what he was worried about.

He turned around. "At the company?"

"All right, why don't you sit down?" He did. "Would you like some water or something?" He shook his head. "Is something wrong?" she finally asked.

"No, I just want to know what's happening at the company."

She took a seat next to him on the couch. "Well, I was right about Bennet, sort of. He did end up in control after Angela was killed, but it was reluctantly. Uh, Nathan Petrelli ended up taking over, because he's a Petrelli."

Sylar made a noise, like a scoff, at Nathan's name. Elle tried to act like that made sense to her. "I know. He's not really qualified, but this might be better for us than Bennet. In fact, it's definitely better than Bennet. We just need to find a way to make this work to our advantage." Sylar scoffed again. "Okay, what's wrong with you?"

He shook his head, and he did not say anything for a while, but Elle was patient. Finally Sylar said, "I think you're going to sleep with him."

"Nathan?" Elle burst out laughing. That was ridiculous. She tried to think of why he would possibly say that. "Oh, do you mean like to influence him? Is that what you want?"

"No," he said emphatically. "No, I don't know why you do it, but I had one of Angela's dreams."

Elle did not know how she would feel if Sylar asked her to have sex with Nathan for his sake, so she was glad that was not it. "I don't think that dream could have been accurate. Was there anything else it could have stood for? Like it was a metaphor for something else?"

"What could that be a metaphor for?"

She had no idea. "Well, I don't know what happened in the dream. There must have been a reason."

"You said that you wanted to make him like you because you can't stand it when men don't like you because of your father."

That did sound like something she would say. "Did that work?"

"Apparently, because you started having sex right there on Angela's desk. His desk now."

"Wow." Elle thought about that. "Maybe I should sleep with him. That might be the best way to help you. And me. In fact, this could help both of us."

She watched Sylar gather his words. "You know how if I betray you, you'll set out to destroy me? Well, I don't liked to be betrayed either."

Elle let slide the veiled threat he was making because she liked that he was jealous. "I just mean that it must be a little suspicious the way I'm not hitting on guys at work anymore. Sleeping with Nathan sounds like exactly what I would have done before I met you. This could really get Bennet off my back."

She did not realize what exactly she had revealed until she saw the way Sylar was looking at her. "How many guys at work have you... How many men have you slept with?"

Elle really did not want to get into that, but she knew it would be worse to refuse to say, and she could not lie. So she started doing the math. "I've mentioned that I like feeling wanted. And that stuff about my father and wanting men to like me, that's sort of accurate. So I would say that when I met you, I was twenty-three, and I'd had... eight sexual partners. In five years. That doesn't seem like that much."

"Considering that I'm thirty and I've had half as many, it does seem a bit excessive."

Elle tried not to feel judged and pressed on with her explanation. "One of those was a guy I met in a bar. So while Bennet might have been suspicious that night I went home with you, it wasn't the first time. The rest were men at the company, including two prisoners."

She had hoped that they could put that all behind them now that it had been said, but Sylar seemed lost in thought. "You're the company mattress."

Elle could not help but feel insulted by that. She found it absurd that he was suddenly going to change the way he thought of her just because she had slept with a few co-workers. "Excuse me?"

He did not seem to realize what he had said until then. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean... When I was working at the company, an agent asked me if I'd gotten on the company mattress yet, like it was some big inside joke. I think he meant you because of our history."

Elle grimaced. "Was it John Celiano?"

Sylar nodded. "Oh, good, so you've slept with him," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, he's kind of a jackass. I didn't know that at the time, but... He was definitely referencing our history. One of the reasons, I was chosen for your mission was that I would have been willing to sleep with you if it came to that. I mean I would have anyway, because you were great. It's just that not everyone is cut out for the missions that require you to date a... subject."

Sylar shook his head wistfully. "When we met, I thought you were such a nice girl. Would it be wrong for me to say that sometimes I wish you were more like that?"

It was a little wrong because that Elle had never really existed, but it made Elle realize how he must feel when she wanted him to be more like her was. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that I only... Obviously, I understand that you've changed, and I love you anyway."

"Now I find out that you slept with John Celiano, who is a jackass. And he's one of _them."_

She did not know what he meant by that. "One of who?"

"You know, normal. One of us and one of them. He's one of them. I don't kill them without a reason."

Since they had a couple rough moments there, Elle was really flattered to hear that he wanted to kill John for her sake. "Do you want to kill him because he had sex with me or because he called me the company mattress?"

"Having sex with you is bad enough, but for him to show you so little respect afterwards? Why did you even sleep with him?"

She shrugged. "He told me I was beautiful. He was always complimenting me, but one day, he took me aside and said that I looked beautiful. And then he kissed me, and I took him back to my room. Living at the facility was really convenient for that."

Sylar had heard enough, and he tried to cut Elle off, but she had a far off look in her eye. She continued, "Then he would come by about once a week, or no, less than that. Once every two weeks or so. And we would... He stopped when he got himself a real girlfriend. And I didn't really care about him, but I do remember wishing that someone would want me to be their real girlfriend."

"I want you to be my real girlfriend." It sounded awkward to say, but he wanted her to know that. He tipped her chin up so that she was looking at him again.

She looked at him as though she had just remembered that he was there. "Yeah, well, if you think about it, what you do isn't that different from what John Celiano used to do."

That seemed really unfair, but he could see how, on paper, it was not that different. Although he had never shown up expecting her to have sex with him. In fact, the two nights they did have sex, he had specifically expected her not to. "Then let's do something different. Do you want to go out?"

He thought she was going to say yes, but then she shook her head. "No, it's already different. I'm sorry. This is completely different from John. We shouldn't risk exposure just so that you can prove to me that you care about me more than some guy I didn't even like." She put her arms around his neck. "No, I want to stay in and christen my new apartment."

That worked out really well, because that was what Sylar wanted to do too.

–

In bed with Elle that night, Sylar had another one of his dreams.

This time Nathan was on the phone in what Sylar assumed was his own living room. Elle walked in and he held up his finger to her. "Thank you so much, Andrew. This is an incredible opportunity... Okay, I will see you tomorrow... Goodbye."

Elle crossed her arms. "You must know more than one Andrew, right?"

Nathan set down the phone. "I know several, but that was Governor Clark."

Elle groaned. "We have discussed this. Do my wishes mean nothing to you?"

Once again, Sylar was thrown into the middle of a conversation and forced to play catch-up. He liked seeing Nathan and Elle fighting for once.

Nathan sighed. "We did talk about it, Elle, and this was always part of the plan. I don't understand why you are so against it. He asked me. Isn't that a sign that this is meant to be?"

Elle sat on the arm of a loveseat across from him. "I don't know how to get this across to you. I am a political liability. My past cannot stand up to the scrutiny of your opponents."

"No one even cares about the Vice President's wife. Most Americans can't even name the current Second Lady."

"I'm not your wife. And if you remember, when you first ran for Congress, it was on a family values campaign. Now you're divorced, and you have a live-in girlfriend who's half your age."

"You're not half my age. Do you want to get married now? Is that what this is about?"

"No, marrying me will only put a band-aid on the problem. I've spent a lot of time around senators' wives, and I don't fit in. If Clark loses, I will know the name of the Vice President's wife, because that bitch has treated me like a gold-digging social climber since the day I moved to Washington. It is hard enough for me being involved with a senator. I don't want to be the Second Lady, or Mistress, whatever I'd be called."

Nathan got up from his couch and pulled her down on the loveseat with him. "I get that you're not happy, and I'm sorry, but everything I've done has been for you, Elle."

That was Sylar's first hint that something was off.

Elle sighed. "Is that true, though? Was it all for me or was part of it for the presidency? Because I know how much you love power. So when you realize that I'm hurting you, because I can see that, and I'm not a politician, you're going to have to choose between being president and being with me. And I don't see how I win that."

He laughed. "Is that really what you're afraid of? I can't dump you, even if I wanted to. You know all my secrets."

She looked down. "That's why you would have to get rid of me."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill you, Elle."

At that point Sylar was almost certain of what was going on. He wanted more concrete confirmation though.

Nathan, or not-Nathan, put his hands on Elle's shoulders. "After four years, you need to believe me when I say that. I will never kill you again. I love you, and it is true that I did this for you. _You_ wanted a normal life."

"You're running for Vice President. That isn't normal."

He slid his hands down her arms so that he was holding them above the elbow. "Forget about the election and what kind of scrutiny your background can withstand. I'm going to steal this election anyway, and I have dozens of people at my disposal who can rewrite your background without causing suspicion. All of that is secondary to us. You never answered my question. Do you want to get married?"

She shook her head. "I never wanted to be Mrs. Nathan Petrelli."

He closed the French doors with a flick of his wrist. "You won't be. No matter what anyone else thinks, you'll know the truth, that you are Mrs. Gabriel Gray." He changed his appearance. "If you're really so unhappy with Nathan, we can walk away. We'll confess to what we've done and go back on the run. But I don't want you to make any rash decisions about giving up this life, because you love power as much as I do. This is what you deserve, Elle, after everything you've done for me."

Elle started nodding. She said, "Okay, I've made my decision," but Sylar woke up before he heard what it was.

–

–

**Author's Note**: To be honest, I needed to look up whether Biden is even married, let alone what his wife's name is. (I knew he was a widower, but he's been remarried for thirty years, and her name is Jill. I had to look it up, and that's my point.) Don't put much thought into the politics. It would be the 2012 election with no incumbent, which won't happen, so it's an alternate structure.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note**: I believe that while the future is not set in stone, there are certain paths it is most likely to go down. There are patterns in the futures we've seen. Twice "Nathan" has been President, and twice Nathan has been dead. If you count the beginning of Volume 4 as the future (it was the future at one time), then twice Nathan has betrayed his own kind. Then you have Peter's scar, Claire's hair, and you see that there are patterns, and that's how I justify ripping off "Five Years Later.". (That's not meant to sound defensive.)

–

–

**Chapter 19:**

Sylar looked over at Elle. She was sleeping peacefully, wearing his shirt. His most recent dream was still fresh in his mind. The idea that he would kill Nathan and become President, or Vice President, in his place was the easiest part of the dream to digest. He had a similar vision when he was able to paint the future, and doing it now made sense to him. The part of the dream that was a little more difficult to reconcile was the normalcy of his and Elle's life together. The idea of being a public couple and talking about marriage, it seemed foreign to him. He loved Elle, but he never thought about the future. He never thought about the possibility that they might have a future.

The most complicated part of the dream was that he did not know what Elle decided. If they were just going to walk away in four years, there was no point in going down that road at all. If that was the case, they needed a new plan.

Even though it was early in the morning, he shook Elle awake. "I know why you're going to sleep with Nathan." She sighed and rolled over so that she had her back to him. He shook her again. "It's because I'm going to kill him and take his place."

She turned her head. "So it wasn't Nathan?" She sat up. "After all the allegations and making me feel like a slut, it turns out--"

"I didn't--" He was going to deny that, but he could not say how she felt. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I don't think eight partners is..." He trailed off, not really wanting to talk, or even think, about it. "We need to talk about the dream I just had."

She yawned. "Right, the one where it turns out I wasn't sleeping with Nathan at all."

Sylar wanted to believe that, but when he thought about the earlier dreams, they made more sense if it was actually Nathan in them. He turned on the light to prevent her from falling asleep before they were able to discuss the dream. "So in the dream, which I believe was a vision, it was four years from now, and I had killed Nathan. But you weren't happy, so I'm thinking that maybe it was a sign that we shouldn't do it. Maybe sometimes the dreams are so that we can change the future."

Elle smiled at him, but he did not know why. She seemed excited about something, but she calmed down. "I think that future does need to be changed, because I can imagine why I wasn't happy. I can't be with you if you're Nathan."

Sylar had intentionally failed to mention why Elle was unhappy. He was concerned that if she knew about the vice presidency and all of that, she would embrace the idea too fully and not listen when he tried to tell her about the problems with the plan. He knew that he should explain to her now that they were together, but he wanted to know what she meant. "You were willing to sleep with the real Nathan just to get Bennet off your back, but you can't be with me pretending to be Nathan?"

"It's one thing to sleep with Nathan, but Bennet would never believe that he would fall in love with me."

Sylar did not see why not. "If you think you can seduce him... We'll say it started with that, and the rest followed. And eventually I, as Nathan, fall inexplicably in love with you. Bennet can be as suspicious as he wants, but that sounds reasonable to me."

She shook her head in a patronizing way. "You're wrong. Nathan and I are like oil and water. I could toy with him, use him, influence him. That Bennet would believe. But I can't be with him the way I want to be with you. Honestly, in your vision, where was I? Or do you even know?"

Sylar nodded. "Yeah, you were with me, the way you want to be. And there wasn't anything in the dream to suggest that anyone was suspicious of that."

Elle narrowed her eyes, skeptical. "I find that really hard to believe. In case you haven't noticed, I have a lot more in common with the girl Nathan got pregnant and left in Texas than the one he married."

Other than having abilities, he did not see the similarities to Meredith Gordon at all. "Well, we weren't married."

Elle looked embarrassed. "Oh, I wasn't implying that we would... Oh! So I was like his mistress, like a dirty little secret. That Bennet might believe."

"No." Sylar shook his head. "It wasn't like that. I took you to parties and introduced you to the other senators' wives. We just weren't married yet."

"Other senators..." Elle laughed. "Nathan's a senator. I completely forgot about that, not that he ever lets anyone forget." She thought about that for a moment. "If we were together, and you were a senator, why was I unhappy?"

"Well, the other wives were mean to you. You didn't fit in. Things like that." He remembered a second later that that was only the most superficial of all the objections she had in the dream.

Elle was amused by this. "I think I can handle some blue-blooded society bitches."

"There was more to it than that. I should probably just tell you what happened in my dream. I was a senator, and you were my girlfriend. And the Governor of... some state asked me to be his running mate for the presidency. You didn't want me to accept, though, because you said you were a political liability. You thought I was going to realize that you were hurting my chances and..." He did not want to say it.

"Kill me." She nodded. "You would have to because I knew too much."

She said that she forgave him, but that was still the first place her mind went, even four years later. "I wasn't going to kill you. I told you I could handle the election, but if you wanted, we could walk away and go on the run."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. Why would I have to go on the run?"

"Because if the people at the company knew what I did, they would know you were involved. Besides, if I was on the run, I'd like to think you would go with me considering that I would be giving up the vice presidency for you."

Elle replayed what he had originally said in her head. She had missed the part where he said "we" could walk away. She had assumed he was saying that if she did not want to be there, _she_ could walk away, that it was her choice whether to be with him or not. "You would give up... This is exactly why you are different than John Celiano." She kissed him hard.

"Okay." He pushed her away a little bit. "I want to discuss this, because there's no point in--"

Elle laughed. He wanted to discuss it. Because if she was not going to be happy with that life, there was no point. This was what she had been waiting her whole life to feel. "You should do it. The best thing for you to do to stop the company from trying to control you is take control of the company. It was staring us in the face all along."

"But in the dream--"

"We can learn from the mistakes of the dream without scrapping the whole thing. If becoming Vice President doesn't work for us, just don't. If I hate being a senator's wife—girlfriend, do your six years, fake a family crisis, and don't run for re-election. But keep control of the company because that's the important thing."

Sylar shook his head with a reluctant look on his face. "Nathan has children, one of them being Claire. That's going to be awkward."

If he wanted to play the devil's advocate, she was ready to match his arguments. "Claire has a father; she doesn't need Nathan. And as for the boys, when was the last time he even saw those boys? I'm sure you could do as fine a job at parenting as Nathan does."

"Yeah, until the boys manifest abilities and I kill them."

"They might not. Nathan's ability is synthetic." Elle knew the odds were really good that both of Nathan's sons would manifest abilities eventually, but she did not want that tiny fact to stand in the way of Sylar getting what he needed. "If I were you, what I would worry about is Peter. He can read minds."

"Yeah, that might be a problem." He grew pensive.

Elle became concerned about what solution he might come up with for the Peter problem. She would hate to think that her words were the cause of the death of another person she liked. "You wouldn't necessarily have to kill him though." She tried to think of a reason why not.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill Peter. He's been—I'm not going to do that."

Elle was relieved to hear that, but she was curious why. Peter was going to be trouble for him in a lot of different ways. She did not want to push him though, so she let it go. "Okay, then." She wanted to broach the next subject carefully. "One more thing about this plan, I think the only way to make people believe Nathan would be with me is to get involved with him while he's still Nathan."

Sylar gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm trying to tell you that I had a vision, and no one cared. We did it for years."

"Okay, in the dreams where I seduce him by telling him about my father, was that Nathan or you?" She was sure she already knew the answer.

"I think that might have been Nathan," he said very reluctantly.

Elle placed her hand on his shoulder. "Look, I don't want to have sex with Nathan, but I'm willing to do it, for you."

He chuckled. "It's not for me. It's for you, so that you can be with me. I can do this without you."

Elle did not like that. He needed her whether he realized it or not. But she did not want to fight about that. "Okay, it's for me then. I'm just a little confused because you were willing to give up the vice presidency for me, but you won't share me with Nathan for a couple months just so that we can be together."

Sylar knew he should not have told her about that vice president thing. That was just going to lead her to have a false sense of their chance at a future together. No matter what happened in the vision, he still found it hard to believe that they could do a long-term relationship. Also, she was ignoring the problems, like that she was not happy with Nathan and that she thought he was going to have to kill her. Then Sylar needed to ask himself whether he would be doing it to make Elle happy or for himself, and he realized that was what she asked him in the dream. "I don't think those two things are related. What's so wrong about not wanting to share you? Why are you so determined to sleep with him?"

"Because I believe, I truly believe, that is the only way we can be together. It won't mean anything, Gabriel. I know that your experiences are a little different from mine, but I can do this and have it mean nothing. I will still belong to you; this is just something that needs to happen to cement it."

Sylar was torn between loving the idea that Elle belonged to him, that they belonged to each other, and being terrified by it. Although he said that he loved her, and he meant it, he was not ready to be in that kind of relationship. And he knew that they already were, because apparently she already thought that she was his. It was all happening so fast, and this dream about the future was just pushing him faster. These were not the kind of things he had wanted as Sylar, but they were exactly what he had wanted as Gabriel. Again, he was forced to face the idea that she was stifling him, keeping him from completely becoming Sylar. He told her she would be Mrs. Gabriel Gray, not Mrs. Sylar. That had to mean something.

"I need time to think about this," he said. "There are more issues to consider than just the ones we've been talking about."

Elle nestled against his chest. "I just want you to know that I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Sylar was about to respond to that when there was a knock upon the door. It was accompanied by the voice of Noah Bennet saying, "Elle, open up."

--


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Elle jumped up in a panic. She was sure that there was no way Noah could actually know anything, but his mere presence at the apartment alarmed her. She quickly ripped off Sylar's shirt and threw on a robe. She would like to have been more dressed, but most of her clothes were still in boxes.

The knocking became more insistent. "Elle, if you don't answer the door in the next few seconds, I'm going to let myself in."

Elle ran across the apartment, closing her bedroom door behind her. As she opened the front door, she tried to put on a groggy face. Even though she had been awake for a while, it was still much earlier than she would normally wake.

She did not say anything to Noah as he pushed his way past her. There was no joy in his voice when he informed her it was inspection time.

She faked a yawn. "Is this like college? Are you my R.A.?"

"You didn't go to college, Elle." He went into her bedroom and even checked behind the shower curtain in her bathroom. Elle did not think that he actually expected to find Sylar, mostly because his gun was not drawn. She watched him carefully to see if he was planting bugs, but she did not see him do anything like that.

When he was done with his inspection, he sat on the couch. "You found this place very quickly."

She was not happy to see that he intended to make a visit out of this. She pulled her robe tighter. "I started looking a while ago. I was just waiting for permission to move out of the facility."

"But you knew Angela was never going to allow that."

Even though he was getting close to the truth, because she did know that Angela was going to be killed, Elle genuinely laughed at this. "Do you think I had her killed so that I could get my own apartment?"

Noah narrowed his eyes. He regarded her in silence for about a minute. He finally said, "I don't know what to do with you. You should not have been given permission to move out."

"I don't think Nathan knew that he--" Elle stopped speaking suddenly because across the apartment, the floor creaked.

Noah turned his head to look in the direction of the creak. Sylar became visible and turned around. "This is awkward," he said.

Noah drew his gun, but Sylar flicked it away before he was able to shoot. Elle watched all this happen with curiosity. In the one day she had lived there, she never noticed that her floor had a creak. She took a couple steps around, but floor where she was standing did not make a sound. It almost seemed to her that Sylar wanted to get caught.

Then Sylar raised his hand to kill Noah. Without even thinking, Elle reacted. "No!" She electrocuted Sylar to stop him from doing it. Now she needed to think really fast. She needed to know what she was doing before Sylar got up and before Noah started asking questions.

For some reason, Sylar was reluctant to go ahead with the plan to kill Nathan. Elle did not know what had happened in the dream, but she knew that she had not helped matters any with her talk of sleeping with Nathan. She should have left that for later, when the plan was already in motion. However, she believed that eventually Sylar was going to realize that it was the best course of action, and when that happened, she needed to be at the company.

Now she just needed to figure out how to convey what she was doing to Sylar. She walked up to him. "I can't... go with you. I'm still a company girl." Then, because she was not sure if that was enough of a lie to set off his detector, she added, "I'm still loyal to the company."

"Oh, please," Noah said, still sitting on the couch, "don't put on an act for my sake."

Sylar looked behind her at Noah, and then back to her face. "Yeah, let's not put on an act here. Bennet's a smart guy. He knows what's going on."

She was not sure, but she thought Sylar was going along with her. "You wanted him to know you were here," she accused. "You want him to think--" She stepped over to where he made the floor creak. It made the same sound again when she stepped on it. "How is it that you happened to walk over the one spot where the floor creaks?"

He took hold of her arm and lowered his voice. "Look, Elle, Bennet is never going to trust you now, so you might as well come with me."

Still not sure they were on the same page, Elle pressed ahead. She pulled her arm away from him. "So you did do it on purpose. You're trying to sabotage my job so that I wouldn't have a choice but to go with you."

"They don't care about you!" he said with exasperation. "I heard the way Angela talked to you. Why are you so loyal to those people when they have done nothing but use you?"

Now that she knew that he was going along with the act, she felt more confident saying, "You killed me, and--"

"I said I was sorry." He said it now as though he did not understand why he should have to apologize for that.

Elle was not sure if he had ever actually said that. "And Noah—" She pointed back at him. "—brought me back from the dead."

"So that he could use you. You're making my point. You say that you love me; this is your chance to prove it. Leave the company and go with me."

She took a couple steps back from him. "And do what? Watch you kill people? You were going to kill Noah, and you wouldn't even gain anything from that. I can't be with you if you're going to be like that. I know what I said last night, but in the harsh light of morning... I was wrong. I ca—I_ can't_."

Sylar looked back at Noah. "Fine, stay with him for now. But you should realize I'm not always going to come back for you. So if you turn me down now, it might be for the last time."

"I'm not turning you down. I want to be with you. If you just come back to the company and let us help you..."

Sylar looked at her with a disbelieving expression. Without another word, he walked out, phasing through the door.

Elle traced his footsteps and rested her head against the door. Fighting with Sylar had been the easy part. Now she needed to convince Noah to keep her around. His lack of comment during her conversation with Sylar made the situation a little hard to read. She tried to feel this like it was real, like Sylar had just walked out on her for what was probably the last time.

Elle was not able to make herself cry, which was probably for the best. Under normal circumstances, she would not have wanted Noah to see her crying. She took a couple deep breaths and pushed herself away from the door. She walked back to Noah. "Okay, so now what? Are you going to lock me up?"

He sighed. "Why does everything have to be so complicated with you, Elle?"

She thought it was probably a good sign that he was confused. "I don't know."

"If we assume that you're telling the truth... Actually, either way, he does feel something for you."

Elle shrugged. "I guess so."

Noah thought about that. "What if you asked him to stop killing people, but not to come back to the company?"

Elle had no idea where he was going with that. "What?"

"Maybe next time you should emphasize the part about how you can't be with him if he's killing people, but don't mention the company. Say you would go with him, on the run, if he just stops killing people. That's the goal. The company is just... the company."

Elle thought the goal was to kill Sylar. "And then what? I'd go with him and decapitate him in his sleep?"

"No. I don't think you'd actually do that. I meant, just go with him and hide. As long as he's not killing people... Peter Petrelli doesn't want to kill Sylar."

"That's weird. Sylar..." Elle checked herself to make sure she was not revealing too much. "Sylar mentioned that he did not intend to kill Peter. I wonder what that's about."

Noah sighed. "Peter thinks there might be some... good in Sylar." He sounded like he couldn't even believe that he was saying that. "He saw a future where Sylar was..." He shook his head. "The orders are not to kill him."

Elle felt vindicated. Peter had clearly been the right choice. "Did you say orders? Isn't Nathan in charge?"

Noah laughed. "You know as much about company politics as anyone. You know who's in charge, especially with Nathan in Washington. Besides Nathan's just a figurehead."

Elle had thought that either one of them would be a figurehead and that Noah would just do whatever he wanted, but apparently he was willing to take orders from Peter. "So, what are Peter's orders? Because if he thinks he can control Sylar... Sylar has killed everyone who made that mistake before him, including me."

He shook his head again, as though this was all so strange to him. "He doesn't want to control him. He wants to help him. Because he has the ability too, and he has felt the hunger, and... He sees Sylar as human, and I think you're the only one who has made that mistake before."

That did not tell her anything about the orders. "So does Peter _want_ me to go with Sylar?"

"That's not part of his orders, no. But if you talk to him about that, and if you can be trusted to actually want Sylar to stop killing, he might agree. Although the future was bad, Sylar was good, happy. And Peter wants that for Sylar. Something happened between those two when they thought they were brothers."

"What was the future like?" Elle wanted to know, because it could not possibly have been the same one Sylar saw.

"I don't know much except Sylar had a son. Peter never knew who the mother was, but they named the kid after me."

Elle thought about who would want to do that. "Maybe it was Claire."

"It was _not_ Claire," Noah snapped.

Elle was not really thinking when she said that. She had not realized how disturbing it would be for Noah to think about his little girl having Sylar's baby. "Obviously, no one here wants to think about Sylar and Claire like that. I'm just saying--"

"Peter doesn't think it was Claire. Because even though they were living in my house and they named the kid after me, Claire was there when the kid was killed, and she did not seem at all upset by it."

Elle latched onto the end of that. "Wait, if the kid died..."

"That future has already been changed. That was when the formula was made available to the general population, which no longer possible. Your son was killed by Knox, who's dead now, so that won't happen. But the core of who Sylar became, that's what Peter wants to preserve."

Her son. Children were never really part of Elle's plans, but that did not mean that she would never want them. If Sylar became Nathan, they could not have children. It would be too confusing, and what if the kid looked like Sylar? This was the second future she had heard about this morning, and she did not know what to make of it. "Why are you telling me this?"

Noah shrugged. "Because maybe there's a way that you can be a good company girl and be with Sylar."

"Right, but why are you telling me that?"

He sat forward. "I've known you for a long time, Elle. And there have been a lot of men in your life who have used you and thrown you away, starting with your father and ending with Sylar when he killed you. What Sylar said today, about me bringing you back so that I could use you, that's true. But I don't want to be the latest in that long line of men. I don't trust you, and I don't particularly like you, but I don't want to throw you away when you stop being useful."

Elle was overwhelmed by what Noah was saying. "Have I stopped being useful?"

He did not seem to know how to answer that. "I thought you had. It's a problem that we can't trust you. I don't know if you were involved in Angela's death. But you have been treated so badly in your life, and maybe I understand why teaming up with Sylar would seem appealing to you. It's going to be different with Peter in charge, though. He's not going to treat you like your father and Angela did. So maybe this can work out for everyone. Like I said, you're just complicated, Elle."

Elle thought about pointing out that Peter was one of those men who used her back when he pretended to like her, but she refrained. Noah was confusing her. When Angela gave the order to keep Sylar alive, Noah was still determined to kill him. She did not understand why that would be different with Peter's orders, which frankly sounded a bit naïve. So she did not exactly trust what Noah was saying. "This is all completely contrary to what I've been told thus far."

"Well, there's new leadership. And I understand something about you that Angela didn't. You can't really be controlled. She thought she could treat you the way she did and still have you be loyal to her. She thought your feelings for Sylar could be broken down." Noah paused. "I'm not saying that she didn't love Arthur, but she tried to kill him. And you forgave Sylar. I don't think she could understand the depth of what you must feel to forgive him."

Elle scoffed. "Okay, you are being way too nice to me now."

"I'm trying. Because I'm guessing that Sylar is really nice to you and tells you how sorry he is and that he really cares about you." He paused again. "And that might all be true, because why else would he want you? He doesn't seem to have trouble finding victims. He already killed Angela, with or without your help. I don't think he needs you for anything right now. He just wants you to go with him. And why wouldn't you? But this company is going to treat you better, Elle. We're going to give you a reason to be loyal. Because you are the key to all of this."

Elle was still skeptical. "It doesn't seem like that was your goal when you showed up this morning."

"It wasn't, but I didn't know you were sleeping with Sylar then. I wasn't going to tell you anything about Peter's objectives with regard to Sylar, but when I heard you talking to him, something clicked. And I know that was probably all an act; it just made me wonder what Sylar really wants and whether there might be a way to make that coincide with the company's interests."

Elle did not believe a word of that. Noah did not care about what Sylar wanted. She knew that he was manipulating her, and it was working to a certain extent. She was just uncertain as to why he was doing this. She needed to talk to Peter to find out if anything Noah said was true. Why she thought she could trust Peter more, she was not sure.

Noah got up from the couch and headed for the door. "By the way, thank you for not letting him kill me, whatever your reasons were."

Elle followed him. "Thank you for bringing me back from the dead." She did not think she had ever said that to him before, and yet it was something she really appreciated.

Once Noah was gone, Elle sank onto the couch. She dug between the cushions and found the tiny microphone he had planted there. She figured that he probably expected her to find that, so she held onto the microphone and created sparks to fry it. Then she tossed it on the cushion next to her.

Sylar and Noah had given her a lot to think about. As hesitant as Sylar was about his future as Nathan, she did not think he would like the future Peter saw any more. For him to be good made it sound like she, if she was the mother, had literally suppressed Sylar to the point where he was just Gabriel. She asked herself if she wanted him to stop killing. When she promised to stop stifling him, part of that had been promising to not ask him to stop killing. She said she would help him become the man he wanted to be, meaning that she would help him get the powers he wanted. But if he became Nathan, he would have to at least slow down the killing anyway.

Elle thought about what she wanted. She wanted Sylar. She was willing to do what she had to do to be with Sylar. She wanted a normal life. Both of those futures seemed to offer her that. Then she wondered what Sylar wanted out of the future. He had never said.

She decided that the first step was to find out what Peter had to say. So she got up from the couch and headed to her shower.

–


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

As far as Elle knew, Peter did not have an office at the facility since his working there was rather unofficial. She had not even been aware that he had really started work, let alone that he was giving orders already. Nathan had been gone less than a week, and Elle thought it would be bold for Peter to move into his office so soon, but that was the only place she could think of to look for him when she got to the facility.

On her way to Nathan's office, down the next hallway, she heard Noah say Peter's name and ask if they could speak in private. Elle stopped herself before she rounded the corner. She really wanted to hear what Noah was going to say to Peter.

When she did not hear anything else for several seconds, she peeked her head around the corner. They were gone, and Elle assumed that they had stepped into Nathan's office. She walked down the hall, trying not to make a sound.

The door was not completely closed, and Elle could hear Noah say, "...and Sylar was there." Now all she had to worry about was someone coming across her and asking her why she was eavesdropping. She leaned against the wall, hoping that she looked casual.

"You were right not to let me fire her. I realize now exactly what mistakes your mother made in handling Elle."

This was exactly what Elle had been hoping to hear, how Noah planned to handle her. There had to be more to the story than what he told her that morning.

Noah continued. "She's a complicated girl. But she's not—She's not a girl anymore. That's one of the mistakes Angela made. The main mistake was thinking that there is anything we can do to change the way she feels about Sylar. Elle claims to be torn between him and us. She wants to go with him, but she's still loyal to us. I don't believe that, and don't let her convince you of that either. It's not loyalty that keeps her from going with him."

"Then what is it?" Peter asked.

"I don't know. Maybe fear. This company is the only thing she's ever known, and he's already killed her once. If she goes on the run with him, who's going to save her next time? Or she might have completely different reasons for staying. She's hard to read. You might have more luck with that."

"What are you suggesting we do with her?"

There was a brief silence, and Elle waited with baited breath for Noah's answer. "We need to treat her better. Make her want to help us. Ang—Your mother's plan was to use her to control Sylar once we had him in custody, maybe even to use her to convince him to turn himself over to the company. But your mother never worried herself about why Elle would do that. What was in it for her? Your mother was right about one thing. Elle might be able to... I don't want to say control, but to affect Sylar's behavior. He wants her; that's apparent no matter what lies they're telling. But to get her to help, the plan needs to be something that gives her what she wants, which appears to be Sylar."

That was not actually very different from what Noah had told her that morning. He could be lying to Peter too, but Elle doubted it. If Noah was telling the truth, that only complicated things for her. It was easier when the company was completely adverse to her interests.

Noah went on. "When we, your mother and I, brought Elle back from the dead, we gave her her life back. That's just hitting me. She has a _life;_ she's a person, not just some company pawn."

Elle was not sure she could even believe what she was hearing. She never expected to hear anything resembling genuine compassion come from Noah Bennet. She had been hoping to catch Noah feeding the "future" to Peter so that he would know what to tell her when she asked about it. She supposed he might be getting there. Please, she thought, talk about the future.

She heard Peter shush Noah, and she realized too late that if she could hear them, Peter could hear her thoughts. She started backing away from the door, but Peter opened it and saw her.

She stopped going backwards and walked back to the office. "I just came to talk to you, and I caught the last part of that."

Noah came out of the office. He did not look Elle in the eye. "I need to get back to Costa Verde anyway. I'll let you two have your talk."

Elle watched him leave. She was embarrassed about being caught eavesdropping. It made her feel like a teenager, listening outside her father's office. Even though Peter did not look the least bit disappointed in her, the memories were strong. As she followed Peter into the office, which had not changed much décor-wise, she half expected to be scolded.

Peter sat on the couch, the same one he had been on when they first met. "Why do you want to hear about the future?"

Elle felt that it would be awkward to sit next to him, so she brought over one of the chairs and sat on that. "Noah mentioned that you might want to help Sylar. Really help him, not control him and use him for your own purposes. You really believe he can be a good person? Normal, with a house and kids?"

Peter nodded. "I believe it because I've seen it, Elle. It can happen; he can fight the hunger."

Since the end of the eclipse, Sylar had never given Elle a reason to think that he wanted to fight the hunger anymore. "That's not what he wants. If I do that to him, he'll hate me, or resent me at least."

"I don't think so. He said it was a struggle, but that he did it for his son."

The mention of the son stirred something in Elle. "Was I the mother?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't know. There wasn't anyone else there, and I didn't ask him about that."

It would have been easy for him to just say yes, but he was so honest. His fresh-faced optimism made Elle sad. How could he still be like that after everything he had gone through? "Why don't you want to kill him? That has to be easier."

"Are you asking because you want to know, or so that you can report back to Sylar?"

She knew she should tell him that he had the wrong idea about her relationship with Sylar. She knew that saying anything less was betrayal of their partnership. The problem was everything about this conversation felt like a betrayal. "I want to know. I want to hear you say why, so that I can tell if you're lying. Because Noah was right; I'm not going to help the company hurt him anymore."

"Noah still wants to kill him. I can tell you that much. But I... I understand Sylar, probably better than anyone."

Elle thought that was probably a given since he was an empath. "Well, I know him pretty well, and I don't know if I can see the good in him that you do. And I'm pretty sure I want to believe it's there much more than you do." That was not true. She would accept Sylar however he was. She just figured she should try to keep up appearances.

"Maybe you would believe it if you saw it. When I came to the house, he was making waffles. Making them, with a waffle-iron. He hugged me. He said it was good to see me. And he had the cutest kid. Before Sylar, or Gabriel, because that's what he was going by. Before Gabriel poured the syrup, he asked little Noah for the magic word. Noah said, 'Abracadabra.' I can only imagine where he learned to be so precocious."

"Don't do this to me, Peter," she whispered. The words came out before she even realized how painful it was to hear that, how much she ached for that.

Peter did not seem surprised at her reaction to hearing about the future. "You were right. It's not about controlling him. It's about helping him learn to control himself. Because if he can't, or won't, there's only one way to stop him. Setting him on that path is the best way to stop the company from killing the man you love."

Peter was a lot smarter than she gave him credit for. "Are you saying that I should get pregnant?"

"No. If you manipulate him, then he will hate you, or at least resent you." He stood and started to pace. "I'm not my mother, Elle. I'm not even Nathan. I don't like to lie or manipulate. I like to help people. That's why I became a nurse in the first place, and that's why I'm with the company now."

"I don't think you explained why you don't want to kill him, after everything he's done. Is it because you feel pity for him?"

Peter shook his head. "When I first got Sylar's ability, I killed Nathan, in the future. Then I came back to the present and tried to kill my mother. I _understand_ him. I didn't really feel like myself again until I lost my powers. When they came back, they integrated better. _It_ integrated better."

"When he got his powers back, it was worse." Elle felt that she should not have said that. She was afraid she was letting her guard down too much.

"Well, it's his main ability. He's going to have to work harder. You need to give him a reason to do that. And I don't mean a child. I mean that you are in the best place right now to help him, because he cares about you, and he's sorry, right? He regrets hurting you?"

Elle thought about that.

"Yeah," Peter said. "At least that what he says."

Those were the exact words Elle had been thinking. She put her head in her hands. She had tried to be careful, but there was no way of knowing what Peter had been able to glean from her thoughts. She looked up at Peter. "I still can't wrap my head around the idea that I can do what's right for him and what the company wants." After a second, she added, "I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I don't have any power over him. We're not quite anything to each other yet. What I said happened the night your mother was killed, that's all true. Except I left out that he asked me to go with him. And when I said no, that's when he said he wasn't done with me yet. I wanted to make it sound like it could have been a threat, because I thought that would make Noah trust me more, but it... wasn't. I'm holding him at arm's length because of the company. I'm trying to hold onto my loyalty because this is all I've ever known. And yeah, I slipped last night, and I slept with him, for the first time since he killed me." She paused to let the emotion build. "I want this, Peter. I want a way to have both."

She did not know how much of that Peter would believe, but she had to at least try. She stood up. "The next time I see him, if I see him again, I will talk to him about that."

"That's all I want. Just talk to him. Don't try to manipulate him."

Elle thought he was really tying her hands with that.

Peter smiled. "I know that might be difficult for you, but try it my way for a while."

Elle needed to get out of there before she found herself liking Peter any more than she already did. She knew that she needed to be loyal to Sylar above and beyond anything else. She needed to still be willing to put his wants first, and the longer she talked to Peter, the harder that was.

–

–

**Author's note**: I don't remember what Peter told Sylar about the future. I know he told him about getting the ability, but was there anything else? I thought about buying that episode on iTunes, but I decided to draw the line at spending money on research. So if anyone knows what exactly Peter told him and wants to PM it to me, I would really appreciate that. (UPDATE: I got a great response, and assistance is no longer necessary. But you can still message me if you want.)


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Right before she left work, Elle borrowed sweeping equipment from the supply room. She went over every inch of the apartment because she had no way of knowing what had happened there while she was at work all day. When she was satisfied that there were no bugs or cameras, she pulled out her cell phone, swept that too for good measure, and called Sylar.

She had never called him using her own cell phone before, but the reasons for that were no longer applicable. The company already knew that she was in contact with Sylar; it did not matter if they found out she had a phone number for him. The only thing that mattered now was that they were not able to hear what she and Sylar said to each other when they did see each other.

He answered on the second ring, and Elle did not think he was surprised to hear from her. He probably thought that she lost her job. "Are you still in New York?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Can you come to my apartment? I need to see you right away." She was afraid that was a lie; she did not _need_ to see him. "I _want_ to see you right away."

"Did everything go okay with Bennet?" He sounded concerned.

Elle knew that her urgency was probably misleading. There was really no reason for her to be acting like this. She tried to lighten up her tone. "Are you kidding? Now that they know you want me, I'm useful again. You just improved my job security."

Sylar hung up, saying that he would be there in just a few minutes. Elle sat and waited.

She did not need to do this now. It could wait until later. But the futures and possibilities were swirling around in Elle's head, and she could not wait anymore. They were at a crossroads. They needed to decide where they wanted the future to lead. She needed to know what he wanted out of the future because that would make all the difference in the world.

He was good to his word. It seemed like hardly any time had passed between when he hung up and when he arrived at the apartment. "What's wrong?"

Elle got up from where she was sitting. "Nothing's wrong. I didn't mean to make you worry. I've just been thinking about what we talked about this morning, about Nathan."

"Oh." He sat on the couch.

She knew what he was thinking about Nathan, but she did not want to waste any time on that. "And I realized something about the future. It hasn't been written yet. The future is laid out before us. We're not bound to anything that's been foreseen by anyone. We can decide what we want out of the future and make that happen. But we have to decide before it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

She did not know how to explain it. "The future is changing all the time. Every second, we head down a new path. This is the future, from before. I'm only saying this--" She point to the ground to emphasize the here and now. "--because you asked that question. And I don't want to go too far down a path, only to realize that it was wrong and we can't go back."

"That's... That's exactly what I was saying this morning. It's pointless to spend four years becoming Nathan only to have you want to walk away."

"Yes!" She clapped her hands. "That's a perfect example. Let's say we went into that without really thinking it through, and you killed Nathan. That would change the future forever." Because she figured Peter had to love his real brother more than some guy he had only known for a year. He might be able to accept that Sylar had killed both of his parents, but surely Peter had a limit. "That would limit the choices we have for the future. So we need to make some decisions now before it's too late to get what we want."

She was pacing, agitated, and she knew that Sylar did not understand that. He followed her with his eyes. "Where do we start?"

She stopped in front of him. "We start with you. What do you want, if you could have anything, what do you want to happen in the future?"

"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the future, Elle. I don't... I can see that this is really important to you, but I don't want a future. The idea of having this thing that we're working toward, it's not..." He seemed to have trouble conceptualizing the rest of that sentence.

She was afraid that he was saying he did not want a future with her, because it was absurd to say that he did not want a future at all. She was not going to let herself think like that, however. "Not having a future is not an option. So what do you want?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

Elle went back to pacing. This was really frustrating. It was bad enough that she knew in the end he was not going to give her the answer she wanted. She wished they could just get there. "Let's try an exercise. Close your eyes. Or better yet, change this into your apartment in Queens."

"What?"

She pulled him to his feet. "I'm not trying to stifle you. I just want to establish a baseline, okay?"

Elle had not known what she intended to do with his apartment until she saw it. Then she knew. She had tried it Peter's way. Now, it was time to manipulate him, just a little bit. She ran to the place where his kitchen started and pretended to carry a pan of ziti out. "Blah, blah, artsy spoken word thing."

She held her empty hands up to him to smell, but he didn't. He just narrowed his eyes at her. She prompted him. "Smells good, right?" Without waiting for an answer she pantomimed setting the pan on the table. "What do you want right now? Don't even think about it."

He was not quite with her on this. "I want to... eat that ziti. Because it smelled so good, and I never got the chance to after Trevor came."

"Okay." Elle plopped herself down in one of the chairs. "Let's eat the ziti." When he did not sit down, she pretended to bring a fork to her mouth. "Mmm, this tastes as good as it smells."

He sat down and took one halfhearted bite.

Elle pushed away her imaginary plate. "And dinner's over. What do you want now?"

He sighed and thought about that. "I want..." He closed his eyes. "I want to go to that theater. I want you to spend the night, even though I wouldn't ask you because I know it's way to soon for that. I want you to..."

While he was speaking, plates with ziti appeared on the table. His hair and clothes changed to those of Gabriel, and he was wearing glasses. Elle looked down at herself. She was wearing the same outfit she had on that night. Sylar opened his eyes. "I want you to tell me the truth."

She nodded, pretty sure she knew what he meant by that. "Gabriel, there's something I need to tell you." She stretched out her arms toward him. "I should have told you this earlier, but I have an ability too." Using both hands, she formed a ball of electricity. Looking at his face, she closed her hands together and waited for his response.

He looked up from her hands to her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Elle tried to think of an appropriate response. "Because I knew what you did to Brian Davis. But it's okay, because I know that you can be a better person. You're already a better person." She did not say that in an effort to push him toward the future Peter saw, although that was the point of all this. She said it because that was how she felt then. "What do you want now?"

He rolled his eyes. "This is stupid."

Elle was disappointed because he had been getting into it before. She hit her hand on the table, and she was pleased to see that she had startled him. "What do you want right now?"

He sighed. "I want to spend every day with you. I want to tell you about my childhood. I want you to tell me about your childhood."

Now they were getting somewhere. Elle leaned her chair back on two legs. "I lived in Ohio until I was eight. My mother died when I was four. She was like an angel, the sweetest, kindest woman ever. And if that's not true, I don't even want to know, because that's how I remember her."

She set down her chair on all four legs again. "So when I was eight, I caused a blackout in four counties, and my father brought me to the facility here. I don't remember that much about what happened after that." She tried to dig deep. "I do remember that I really wanted to go back to Ohio, and I would plead with him to let us go home. He'd tell me that of course he wanted to go back, but we couldn't because I couldn't learn discipline. It never seemed like he really wanted to go back though. Even though Arthur and Linderman were really in charge, my father had free run of this facility, and there wasn't anything like that for him in Ohio. After a while, I just got used to being there, and I stopped asking.

"From the age of eight to eighteen, I only left the facility a handful of times. I never saw anyone my own age. So I was constantly surrounded by adults, and yet they all treated me like a child. Like a small, petulant child, even when I was a teenager, even after I turned eighteen. There was one person who treated me like an adult though. Adam. He was never disappointed in me, he never chastised me or lectured me. He said he liked me. He said he thought I was plenty mature. And I knew who he was, how old he was, why he was a prisoner. I knew it was wrong, but he was so nice to me. After I slept with him, my father was furious. 'This is why we never went back to Ohio,' he said. 'Because you have no _self-control_.'" Elle stopped there, although there was more that she remembered about her childhood.

Sylar shook his head at her. "Your childhood makes me want to cry."

She laughed. "Yeah, me too. So now it's your turn. Tell me about your childhood."

"I'm afraid it wasn't nearly as interesting as all that. I went to public school, and I spent almost every afternoon at my father's shop. At first, he taught me a few simple things about repairing watches. Eventually, he taught me everything he knew about timepieces." Sylar smiled. "Sometimes it was a little boring at the shop. The watch repair business wasn't really that lucrative. There would be afternoons where we didn't see any customers. But I would still rather go there than go home to my mother. Not that she wasn't a good woman, it's just that she was always pushing me. And I know she meant well. She just wanted me to be successful. She was convinced I could get into Harvard, always Harvard, if I just worked harder in school. But I did work hard in school. I did fine in school; there was just no way I was getting into Harvard.

"My father was different though. He was just a simple man. He liked being a watchmaker. He took pride in his work, and I think that really rubbed off on me. Most of the time, I liked being a watchmaker, too. But sometimes I thought my mother was right, and there was more for me than that. I guess she was, too."

As much as it felt wrong, Elle knew that she needed to push him right then, while he was still feeling like Gabriel. "What do you want now?"

"I want you to help—I _wanted_ you to help me be a better person. I wanted you to tell me that I didn't have to be special. But I'm not that guy anymore."

He was almost there. In fact, he had practically said it until he corrected himself. She leaned forward and took his hands in hers, because this was really important. "But do you _want_ to be?"

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**Author's Note:** I have a research paper due Friday, and I've barely started the research, so that cliffhanger may hang for a while.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: **I'd like to give a special shout-out to Still Can't Find What Keeps Me Here, who helped me greatly with the research for this chapter. Also, thanks to everyone for being so nice about my paper.

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**Chapter 23:**

At first, Sylar had no idea how this exercise was supposed to help him discover what he wanted to happen in the future. She was taking him back to the night it all went so wrong, the night she betrayed him, and he did not know how that was supposed to make anything better for them. How was pretending to eat ziti supposed to help him decide whether or not to kill Nathan?

He wanted to see things the way Elle was seeing them, so he closed his eyes and tried to pretend this was real. When she told him about her childhood, it sounded so horrible. For a second there, the only thing he had wanted was to take her back to Ohio, although he was sure that she would have gone there since, if that was what she wanted.

She asked about his childhood, and the memories flooded back. While nothing he did was ever quite good enough for his mother, his father had praised his aptitude for watchmaking. Sitting in this apartment again, thinking of all the good memories he had in his father's shop, he almost felt like just Gabriel again. When Elle asked him what he wanted, the answer came out wrong. "I want you to help--" That wasn't right. He needed to shake his head to clear it. It was normally the hunger that clouded up his mind, but now it was something different. "I _wanted_ you to help me be a better person. I wanted you to tell me that I didn't have to be special. But I'm not that guy anymore."

Elle looked so solemn as she took hold of his hands. "But do you _want_ to be?"

Her question surprised him. He realized now that was where this was all leading, to that simple question. He thought about it, knowing that every decision he made would preclude several possible futures. "No," he said at last.

Elle nodded her head in a resolute manner. "Well, this wasn't a complete waste," she said, letting go of his hands. "Now we know. Let's try for the other extreme. Do you want to kill every evolved human on the planet until you know that you have every ability that ever existed or ever will?"

Sylar wondered why they had not started with the Nathan future. "I don't think I want to kill _everyone._ First of all, I'm not going to kill you or Peter... And there may be a few others."

"Well, there are the two you promised not to kill that you don't know about."

He had thought initially that if they were not on the list, that would be enough, but he realized now that he had other ways of finding these people. "Right, you should probably tell me who they were, just to be on the safe side."

She hesitated, as though she did not trust him. "Matt Parkman and Molly Walker."

That made no sense to him. "Why?"

"Molly Walker is just a child." There was a fair amount of indignation in her voice as she said this.

"And Parkman?"

She stared back at him, and it seemed for a moment that she was not going to say, which was only going to make him want to go after Parkman more. Finally, she made a sucking sound with her teeth and said, "I don't want you to be able to read my mind."

He tried to appreciate her honesty, not that she had a choice, but that answer was not what he wanted to hear. He did not like to think that Elle might be keeping secrets from him. "Why is that?"

"Because there's just—there's a lot of things that go through my head that you don't need to know about. Like when you mentioned that you thought I was going to sleep with Nathan, my first thought was if I was going to sleep with a Petrelli, it would be Peter." She shrugged her shoulders. "You didn't need to know that. You don't need to know how often I still wonder if you're thinking about Maya, or what you think about her. You don't need to know..." She trailed off as though she had stumbled across something he really did not need to know. "You don't need to know how much I want the normal life you can't give me. How would you like it if I could read your mind? Isn't the lie detector invasive enough?"

Sylar was thinking because he was starting to work something out, but her question about the lie detector distracted him. "You could try not lying."

Elle scoffed. "Right, because you're always _so_ honest with me."

That seemed like a strange thing to say. "When have I ever lied to you?"

"I don't know," she said pointedly. Then she shook her head. "That's not the point. Right now we are discussing a massive killing spree."

The exercise they had just done and the normal life she wanted were coming together in his head. "What do _you_ want, Elle?"

She did not seem comfortable with that question. "I want to make some decisions. I want us to take control of our future."

"Uh-huh." Sylar nodded. "Before, when you asked if I want to be Gabriel, did you want me to say yes?"

"No," she answered with wide, honest eyes.

She might have convinced him if he had not felt the tingle. "Oh, Elle." He got up from the table and walked into the living room. He realized that he was wearing glasses and a tie. It was so subtle that he had not even noticed that she was manipulating him. He let the illusion dissolve, and everything went back to the way it was supposed to be.

Elle followed him into the other room. "I know this is bad. But it doesn't matter what I want, so we'll just move on. Let's just talk about a killing spree."

Sylar could not just move on. "Of course it matters what you want. Have long have you felt this way?"

"I didn't! Everything was fine, and then... It's just—It's Noah and Peter."

She was not making any sense. "What about Noah and Peter?"

She shook her head, determined. "This is your fault. You wanted Noah to know you were here." She turned to look at the creaky spot in the floor and turned back to him. "And once he knew that, everything changed. I'm useful to them again."

Sylar could not believe what he was hearing. "So this really isn't about what you want. You did this for the company? You used--"

"No! No." He hated that she sounded scared of him. "Today, Peter told me about a future that he saw, that he went to, where he got your ability. Did he ever tell you anything about that?"

"Yeah, something was wrong, and he had to save the world again." That was pretty much the story of Peter's life.

She shook her head. "No, he's already done that. Did he tell you anything about you, who you were in the future?"

That was when Sylar remembered. After killing Elle, after finding out that the Petrellis weren't his real parents, he put all of that behind him. "I learned to control it."

"Yeah." She smiled, looking so relieved. "Did he tell you how?"

Sylar tried to remember what exactly Peter had told him. "He didn't know how."

Elle looked confused. "No, he knew. Or maybe it wasn't how, but why. Anyway, he told me all about it, and he made me want it. I want it so much, Gabriel."

Sylar was having a little trouble with this, because what she was really saying was that she wanted something Peter had offered her. He understood that he, as Gabriel, was involved somehow, but she wanted the future Peter told her about, instead of the one he offered. Before, he was glad to see that she was being more realistic about Nathan, but now he was not so sure if that was what he wanted. "Why don't you tell me what Peter told you?"

"He said you were happy and you were in control. And you had a son, an adorable, precocious son. And a house, and you made waffles. You were going by Gabriel again, and... I guess that's all he said, but he made it sound so wonderful." She paused. "So where does that leave us?"

"If that's what you want, a house and kids, why don't you have that with Peter? You see, he's a good person; he'd like being settled. He can do almost everything I can do and more. In fact, as much as I hate to admit this, he's probably more powerful than me. Being with him would give you clout in the company. Maybe they would even have to start respecting you. That could give you everything you want." He had no idea why he had said that. The last thing in the world that he wanted was for Elle to go off and have kids with Peter.

Elle shook her head. "That scenario gives me nothing that I want. It wasn't about the house or the kid or who's more powerful. It's about you. How do you not see that? What appeals to me about that future is that you were happy and the company left you alone. Isn't that really our goal, to get the company to stop trying to control you?"

"Do you really believe that this isn't the company trying to control me?" After what she said about being useful again, she had to understand what Bennet and Peter were doing.

"Gabriel, that's not--"

"No, I want to hear you say it. Tell me that you believe that."

She sighed, and she seemed to think about it. "I really believe that this is not the company trying to control. I was wrong about Nathan. It was wrong to tell you he was in charge. He's nothing; he just has the office. Peter is the one giving the orders, orders Noah seems willing to follow or pretend to. I believe Peter when he says that he does not want to control you. He said he only wants to help you learn to control yourself."

"It worries me that in one day, he's managed to talk you into all of this. We've already experimented with me trying to be a better person, and it ended with me killing you."

She sighed. "Apparently it didn't have to."

He wanted to shake her. Didn't she understand that was the last thing he wanted to hear? He could have been stronger. He could have been better. He could have not killed the woman he loved. He did not want to hear that.

"Look," Elle said. "Peter believes that you can change, but he said if you can't or won't, the company will have to kill you."

If she was trying to imply that she was pushing this for his own good, he did not believe that. "Okay, if we need to stop the company, we'll just go ahead with the Nathan plan. And if you feel like you need to sleep with him to make that work, go for it."

She got a wounded look on her face. "I don't understand why you keep trying to give me away to the Petrelli brothers."

Secretly, Sylar wondered the same thing. The idea of her with either of them made him want to kill someone, more so than usual. He was lashing out, and he was not sure why. "I'm not. I was just making the point that maybe Peter would be more able to give you what you want. And you were the one who insisted that you needed to sleep with Nathan."

"There's no point in me sleeping with Nathan if you don't want me anymore. So why don't we just cut to the chase here. Do you want me in your future?"

He did not know how to respond to that. At the same time, he both did and did not want her in his future. "If I say no, what are going to do?"

"I'm going to cry. A lot, until you can't take it anymore." She created a few sparks with her hand and gave a wry smile. "But I won't shock you this time, because this time it's my fault. I pushed it. I asked when I didn't really want to know."

Sylar had meant after that. If he told her no, what was she going to do with her life, with her future? Then he realized that he should not be asking questions to which he did not want know the answer either. "Is there any chance that you're pregnant right now?"

"No." She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think I am."

Sylar thought that maybe it would be easier if she was. It would take away the choices. Right now, there were too many possibilities. "The future scares me, Elle. Being with you in the future scares me, whether you're my live-in girlfriend who's a political liability or we're settled down in a house with a kid. That's just..." He shook his head. "But I can't picture a future without you. I don't _want_ to picture one without you."

"So... that's a yes? You want me in your future?" she asked, sounding incredulous.

Sylar could see that she had been on the verge of tears, about to cry just like she said. "It wasn't a yes or a no. You're asking the wrong question. Of course I want to be with you for as long as we can make that work. What we need to know is how long can we make that work when you want something I can't give you."

"Won't give me," she corrected. "It would be great if you had said yes, that you wanted to be Gabriel, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. I can make this work forever because all I really want is you." She took several steps forward and pulled his head down to kiss him.

He pulled away. "I, um... I think I should be leaving now."

"What? No." She grabbed his arm. "I thought... I thought you wanted me to spend the night. I mean, that was real, right?"

He looked around the apartment. "You live here. You are going to spent the night."

"No, come on." She held onto him tighter. "You can't leave. We're still sort of in the middle of a fight. I don't feel like anything has been resolved."

"Yeah, it's pretty resolved. I want you in my future, you'll stick by me no matter what I choose. That sounds resolved to me."

She let go of his arm. "Are you really going to deny me make up sex?"

"I don't know if having sex is a good idea right now." He was worried about her getting pregnant, but he did not want to tell her that.

Elle scoffed. "You never think it's good idea." She fiddled with the bottom of her shirt. "We don't have to have sex. We could just make out for a while. I can't get pregnant from that," she said in a teasing tone.

She had a point there, but he was afraid his resolve might be weak. "As tempting as that is, I still think I should go."

Elle became more serious. "I kind of need you to stay so that I'll know we're okay. Because what scares me is the idea of a future without you. So tonight's been a little scary for me, and I'd really like you to spend the night."

Sylar was not completely sure that they were okay, and that was why he knew that he had to stay. If he did not, he would be hurting her again, and he did not want to do that. He put his arm around her shoulder and led her to the bedroom. "I guess there are other things we can do."


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note:** I wish I could have finished this before the new volume started, but it sneaked up on me.

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**Chapter 24**

**--  
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_Night 71:_

Elle was awakened suddenly when Sylar sat straight up in bed. She had been lying with her head on his chest, and she was thrown to the side.

Sylar was breathing heavily and looking at his hands. Elle was concerned about him because he looked slightly crazy. "What's wrong?"

"I just blew up Costa Verde." He squeezed his hands into tight fists and opened them, but nothing happened. "I don't know how, but..."

At first Elle thought that he was claiming that he had actually just blown up a city on the other side of the country, but then she realized it must have been another dream. If that was the kind of thing he was seeing in the future, she did not know why he was so resistant to the one she wanted. She propped herself up on her side. "When did it happen?"

He was still pumping his hands to no effect. "I don't know. It had to be at least four years from now, because... I'm pretty sure it was the future Peter saw. Did he tell you that they killed our son?"

"Yeah." Actually, she did not think that Peter had mentioned that fact, but the important part was that she had known about it. She was a little concerned that no one had told her that he blew up Costa Verde. "Noah--" She realized using that name might get confusing. "Bennet said it was Knox, though, right? And he's dead now, so that won't happen."

Sylar laid back. "So you've really discussed this? Were you going to tell me that part of it? Because it seems kind of important."

Elle thought about lying, but that never worked out too well for her. "No. That future isn't going to happen. The formula is gone forever because you killed Arthur. We wouldn't have the same kid, and he can't be killed by Knox. So I didn't think it was that important." She paused. "You saw it, though? The same thing with the waffles and Knox? Did the kid say abracadabra?"

Sylar laughed. "Yeah, he did."

She was in awe of the things he could do. "How is it possible that you saw that?"

He shrugged, and it did not seem to be concerning him much. So Elle moved onto her next question. "Why did you blow up Costa Verde? Peter said you were happy in the future."

"I was, but then they killed our son. I guess I had no reason to stay in control anymore."

That was the second time he referred to the child as theirs. "Do you really think it was _our_ son? I mean you were living in Claire's house; you named the kid after her father. Isn't Claire the more obvious choice?"

She could tell that Sylar was thrown by the question. "No," he said slowly. "She said I stole her house. Besides, in that future I still thought Peter was my brother. That would make Claire my niece, so no."

"But she's not your niece," she pointed out

Sylar sighed. "I don't want to do this right now, Elle."

"What?"

"Deal with your crazy jealousy. At least with Maya it made sense, but Claire? That's coming out of nowhere. I'm not interested in her. In fact, I think she's still in high school." He shook his head. "I don't understand how you can be so jealous when you're the one who keeps talking about sleeping with other men. And the past is the past; I don't care what you did back then. I'm talking Peter and Nathan."

On some level, Elle knew that Sylar was not going to leave her for Claire, and she knew, far above and beyond that, Claire would never get involved with Sylar after everything he had done to her and her family. She could not help it though; she just liked being jealous. More than that though, she liked that Sylar sounded jealous. "Is that what that was all about? All that talk about how I should marry Peter and have his kids? You were jealous. I wasn't saying that I wanted to sleep with Peter. I was just saying that was more likely than Nathan."

He pulled her close to him. "I'm still trying to figure out what I want to happen in the future, but there are some things I know for sure I don't want to happen. I don't want you to do any of that with Peter. And I guess that you've never actually expressed interest in him beyond that one thing that was really about Nathan, so I'm sorry if my jealousy seems to be coming out of nowhere, too."

Elle realized that she needed to tell him about her history with Peter, what little of it there was. Because if he found out about it later, he might get really upset with her. "In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that there was briefly a time when I was interested in Peter." She could see that he was not happy to hear that. "Very briefly," she added. She ran her hand over his chest. "And nothing happened between us."

She looked up from his chest to his face and saw him clench his jaw. That might have been a lie. "Almost—almost nothing happened. I should explain. Peter did kiss me, but it... Do you want to hear this? Because it's kind of a long story."

"Yeah." He nodded his head, jaw still clenched. "I want to hear this."

"After he exploded, we brought him in. We had a cocktail that could mute his powers, and we told him that we wanted to help him. That wasn't exactly true. The goal of the company has always been to control or eliminate the truly powerful, as you have experienced firsthand. So we were holding him until we knew if he would be useful. If not, we would just leave him locked up forever I guess. Being Angela's son, it might have been different with him though." Elle felt that she had gotten off topic. "He was young and attractive, and I was kind of lonely, bored. You know what it was? He was like a new toy for me to play with. It had been so long since Daddy brought me one of those. So I flirted with him, and he kissed me. I think he was just trying to distract me from noticing that he stopped taking his pills. And then he escaped, with Adam Monroe. That could have turned out really badly. And it was my fault, just like you being out of control was my fault, just like us not getting Claire was my fault."

Sylar made a face. "That wasn't your fault. If anything, it was Hiro Nakamura's fault."

Elle wondered how he could possibly blame Hiro for what happened, but then she realized that he was talking about a different time. "No, that wasn't my fault. But I was supposed to get Claire once before that, for my father, and I failed. So actually the whole thing with Peter is a bad memory. Another time when I didn't exercise enough self-control."

"So were you really interested in him, or did you just see him as a toy?"

Elle was not sure she understood the distinction. "Well, you know, I just wanted to have some fun, and he was a captive audience. I'd shock him sometimes, and he couldn't really do anything about it. So, yeah, I really liked him."

Sylar laughed out loud, and Elle figured that meant they were okay again. "So," he said, "should I be concerned that you don't shock me enough? Does that mean that you don't really like me?"

Elle was glad to hear that he did not think she shocked him enough. That was better than his thinking it was too much. "One of my favorite things about Peter was that he could heal, so I could do it as much as I wanted, and he'd be fine. That wasn't always the case." She raised her hand from his chest. "I don't shock you for fun because, while I might be a sadist, I don't think that you are a masochist. So I didn't think you'd enjoy that." She gave him a quick jolt.

"Ow." He rubbed his chest. "Did Peter enjoy it?"

"No, I just didn't care as much. Also, you're kind of a wuss about pain." She gave him another jolt. Now that she had gotten started, it was hard to stop. She really wanted to dig her nails in and rip off some skin, so that she could watch the regenerating process. It was something she had thought about doing with Adam the first time they had sex, but she had been afraid to ask at the time. She placed her nails on Sylar's chest. "Can I cut you and watch you heal?"

"Okay," he chuckled. He pushed her to the other side of the bed. "I'm sorry I asked."

She wanted to remind him that he killed her, so this was really the least he could do, but she was not going to use that as a weapon against him. It was probably kind of wrong to derive pleasure from that sort of thing anyway. She cleared her throat. "So you saw Peter's future. What did you think of it? Other than the kid dying."

The truth was Sylar had mixed feelings. He had felt everything that he would have felt in the future. He felt himself winning the struggle with the hunger. At times, there was even a complete absence of the hunger, as though he was too busy being a father to feel those things. He also felt himself stop caring after his son was killed. He felt himself lose control of an ability over which he had always had excellent control. He felt himself blow up. So other than the kid dying and the fallout from that, it had been great. Overall, however, the future had been pretty disturbing. He did not want to tell Elle anything that she could consider an endorsement of Peter's future. "It seemed to prove that any time I try to be a better person, it ends in catastrophe."

Elle stretched like a cat. "Well, I should point out that the future you saw with Nathan is no longer possible. You can take his place if you want, but not with me by your side. My asset to the company is that I'm in love with you. So me getting involved with Nathan would be highly suspicious. And if Peter starts looking too closely, that whole plan will fall apart."

Sylar had never really wanted to become Nathan in the first place, and doing it without her seemed wrong. If he was taking all that power, Elle deserved to be by his side. After everything she had done for him, he could not leave her behind while he took control of the company and became Vice President. "If you're useful to the company again, what is it they want you to do?" He did not think that she had ever actually said.

She scrunched up her face thoughtfully. "Noah said I should tell you I would go with you, leave the company, if you stop killing people. Then he said that we should hide, which I took to mean that he would still kill you if given the chance, regardless of Peter's orders. I think he was saying that I shouldn't give him the chance. Peter just wanted me to talk to you about the possibilities from the future and to give you a reason to want to change."

"So he wanted you to get pregnant." That was more of an assumption than a question.

"No, he actually specifically said not to."

Sylar was really trying, but she kept saying things that made him feel like there was more going on with Peter than she was saying. "He doesn't want you to get pregnant? Why is that?"

She shrugged. "Probably because it's wrong to try to use a pregnancy to trap you. Peter is all about honesty, which frankly is not the company's style."

"Are you sure that's really why he didn't want you to get pregnant?" Sylar hated himself for asking that.

"Yeah, I'm pretty—Oh." She laughed. "I should clarify. Peter said that if I used a child to manipulate you into settling down and changing, you would hate me for that. He wasn't telling me not to have your baby because he wants me for himself when this is all over. That would be a really bad plan. You learn to control the hunger, we get you to want to control it, and then Peter steals your girlfriend. I think that might undo all the good work we'd done. I mean you blew up Costa Verde when they killed your son."

"That was my son. I wouldn't blow up a city just because you started dating someone else." That partly had to do with the fact that he did not have the ability to blow up anything. He tried his hands again. That was the one thing that bothered him about the future. He had painted in the future, too. Maybe Arthur had been right about his empathy. He looked over at Elle and saw that she was pouting a little bit. "I'm sorry, I would absolutely blow up a city for you. I would be so upset that I'd blow up all of Ohio, just to make sure that you could never go back." When he thought about it, there was a slight possibility that he would kill her if she did that to him, especially since he could not actually blow up Ohio.

There were a lot of thoughts that came out of that realization. First of all, he recognized that he was still afraid that she was going to hurt him, and if she did, he was not going to be responsible for his actions. Secondly, he realized that he was already changing. He had not even thought about going after new powers since he killed Angela more than a week before, unless he counted Nathan, which he did not. He was just hanging around New York so that he could be with Elle. That was not what Sylar would have done before. On the one hand, that was good because it meant he was no longer a slave to the single mindedness of the hunger, but he worried it had other, less positive implications.

The last thing he thought of was the fact that he had already killed her once. He pinned her down on a beach and cut open her skull. He sighed. "If you really want to cut me and watch me heal, you can."

Elle's eyes lit up. She moved closer to him and laid on her side. She placed her hand on his chest, tenderly at first, but then she curled up her fingers until her nails were digging into him. She slowly dragged them across his chest, leaving long bloody scratches. It hurt like hell, but he took it because he did not want her to say he was being a wuss again.

He watched her face as the wound started to heal. Her breathing became labored, and he was fairly certain she was getting turned on by it. He should have found that disturbing, but it was only making him want her more. He raised his head to kiss her. She started to move her lower body away from his, and he made the split second decision to pull her closer.

Sylar rolled her onto her back, and Elle was really surprised when he started to make love to her. Earlier that night he had been so careful not to do anything that could lead to pregnancy, but he was showing a complete disregard for that possibility now. She thought about not saying anything and letting nature take its course. If she got pregnant now, it was his fault. She could not help but think of what Peter had said though. She did not want to give Sylar any reason to resent her. So she asked, "Are you sure about th--"

Sylar stopped her question with his mouth and continued doing what he had been doing. She took that as a yes.

As the sex was ending, he did not do anything to minimize the risk of pregnancy. Elle was wondering if, having seen the future and the kid, he was more receptive to the idea of it, until he said, "I'm going to leave New York for a while, get back to my pursuit of powers."

Elle felt like this was a test. She had not felt that he was testing her loyalty for a while, not since he killed Claude. She had set them back by breaking her promise not to stifle him. She was going to express how fine she would be with that, but she realized that she had been too accommodating thus far. "You said that after you killed Angela we would talk about being together. Can we talk about that now?"

Sylar shook his head. "I can't stay here with you. If you want to leave the..." He cut himself off. "I don't think it's a good time to talk about that."

Elle knew that he was going to offer to take her with him, but he stopped himself because he was afraid she would take him up on it. "I understand why you need to leave right now, but I want to know if we are ever going to be together. I don't care about the kid or who you kill, but someday I want the house. I want to be settled. What are the chances of that happening?"

Sylar looked up and seemed to be considering this seriously. "They're pretty good. I'm going to need a home eventually. But, Elle, we've only been together for a couple months. I think it's a little soon to talk about babies and moving in together."

Elle thought he had a point there. She had only decided that day that she wanted children, and they were definitely rushing into these big talks. "I know it's soon, but we don't have the luxury of taking things slowly."

"I want to say yes, we will be together. That's all I can give you now."

It felt like a victory, although he had not actually promised anything. "So you're leaving. What do you want me to tell the company?"

He shrugged. "Tell them whatever you want."

Elle did not think that he meant that. He must have some opinion on how to handle this, but she could not think of any questions to ask him. She decided that she would rather have autonomy with the company anyway. She looked at the clock and realized that it was still the middle of the night. Maybe it was best that he was leaving; she never really got any sleep when he was around. "Are you leaving now?"

"No, I'll wait for the morning."

She pulled her comforter over her head. "Then I'm going back to sleep."


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **It turns out I was wrong about some things, like Sylar's father and Peter's powers, but... oh, well. I'm not going to change those things here. It was AU, anyway. (Which is to say that Peter still has all his powers, just like in earlier chapters.)

–

–

**Chapter 25**

Three days after Sylar left, Elle got her period. She knew that she should have been keeping track of it and should have known on that last night that pregnancy highly unlikely, but she had never paid much attention to her cycle before. When she counted back, she realized that she and Sylar had been together around the right time, on the night when he first told her that he loved her.

Elle marked it in her calender, resolving to keep better track of the possibility of getting pregnant on any given day. She called Sylar to give him what she assumed he would consider the happy news. However, although he certainly did not sound disappointed, he did not sound all that relieved either. He just thanked her for telling him.

–

In the days between leaving Elle and getting the phone call, Sylar had set a leisurely pace for South Carolina. It had not been an entirely conscious choice, but on some level he knew that the thought that Elle might be with child was slowing him down. Once he knew that she was not, he reached his destination city that day.

According to Elle, Rebecca Finder had the ability to melt solid objects. It was not a great power, but it had been his, and he wanted it back. He went straight to her home, wanting to get started as soon as possible, but Rebecca was not home. While he waited for her, he looked through her house. Elle had given him no information on Rebecca's family, and he was hoping this would not be another grandmother.

From the look of her house, Rebecca lived alone. There was very little food, and the kitchen smelled rancid. On the counter, there was an open loaf of bread that had completely molded over. Sylar tossed that into the trash can, which was about to overflow. He was starting to think that maybe she had not been home for quite a while, but today's paper was on her table with the crossword half done.

Considering the disgusting state in which she lived, Sylar assumed that Rebecca had no family, which was going to make this so much easier on him. It bothered him that he needed it to be made easy. He never bothered to find out if his victims had a family before. He remembered the first time he went after Molly Walker. He killed her father for his ability, then killed her mother just for fun, and he would have killed that poor child too, if he could have only found her. Sylar did not know if he was more horrified at the memory of what he had done to that family or the knowledge that he was going soft. He just hoped Rebecca Finder would come home soon so that he could get this over with.

When Rebecca did finally arrive, Sylar was sitting at the table reworking her crossword, which had been mostly wrong. She closed the front door behind her, looking more intrigued than anything. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

She was a little younger than he expected, and she actually did not look like a filthy, unhygienic person. He stood. "You have something I want."

She took a few steps forward. "Me? I don't actually have anything of value. Not right now anyway."

Now that she had stepped into the light, Sylar noticed that she had a more haggard appearance than he originally realized. She scratched at the skin inside her elbow, and Sylar knew what her deal was. "Tell me, do the drugs make it easier to use your ability or harder?"

Rebecca sank into a chair. "Oh, you're one of those. I thought you were here for money. I was hoping we could make a deal to pay in trade. But no, you want to talk about... that nonsense." She scratched herself again. "When you start melting everything you own, it's like the worst acid trip ever. The drugs don't do anything to my... ability, as you called it. They just make it easier to keep my mind."

"If you don't want this ability, I can help you with that." He circled around the table to stand in front of her. "Not everyone who is chosen can handle what's happening to them."

Rebecca laughed. "Chosen? This isn't a gift from God." She stood and pulled the chair away from the table. "Have you ever seen wood melt?" She liquidfied the chair, not caring that it splashed all over her jeans and shoes.

Sylar had seen wood melt before. He had seen nearly everything melt before. Watching her do it, the hunger grew in his chest. He ran his fingertips over the table, wishing he could melt that right then. Soon, he told himself. "Like I said, I can take it away." He threw her against the wall. "The process is a little painful though."

He cut into her head slowly so that he could listen to her beg for her life. Any conflicting emotions he felt before were gone. It felt so good to kill this pathetic person and take what she did not deserve. As he left, he tapped the table, turning it into a large puddle of goo with the crossword floating on top.

Since he was over his momentary attack of conscience, Sylar headed south for Florida, where there were a couple more people of interest.

–

The next day, Peter came into Elle's office. "Have you spoken to Sylar since the last time we talked?"

Elle knew that she needed to tell Peter something, but she had held off going to him to give Sylar time to disappear into the vastness of America. "Yeah, I saw him a couple nights ago."

Elle left it at that, even though she knew that Peter expected more information. "And how did that go?" he asked.

She had a decision to make, and it was a difficult one. She was not sure how honest she should be with Peter. She knew that she had to give him enough to keep him from deciding that Sylar was beyond hope. "We talked about what he might want. I tried to leave it open to him to tell me, but in the end, I told him about what you saw."

Peter sighed and rubbed his hands together. "What did he say?"

He seemed anxious, and Elle felt the need to bring him down. "You do realize that this is going to be a process, right? He's not going to change overnight."

Peter leaned against her desk. "I know that. I just... Where is he now, geographically?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"He's probably out trying to find someone to kill. How do I justify letting him go on like that? I need you to stop him, Elle."

Peter was breaking her heart. The company had given Sylar people to kill before; they never concerned themselves with collateral damage. But Peter was going to take every kill from now on personally. "He probably is going to kill someone. I think he's scared. He thinks that if he tries to be a good person, it'll always end badly. So he's rejecting the future you saw, which is the same thing he was doing when he killed me. He's scared to try to be a better person, because it'll hurt more when he fails."

He crossed his arms. "Why did he fail? How did my destroying the formula... or his killing my... What happened to change his future?"

"When you went to the future, he still thought you were brothers, right?" She did not wait for an answer. "He was trying to be a better person for your parents, and when he found out that they weren't his parents, he... I was there when Noah told him that they weren't his parents, and that's when everything changed."

Peter shook his head. "He wasn't doing it for my parents; he was doing it for the kid."

"Yeah, well, he never gave me the chance to give him a son. He just killed me. So, that's when his future was changed. I'm sure of it."

"So what are you going to do, Elle, to make him not scared anymore? How are you going to convince him to stop killing?" Those seemed to be rhetorical questions. "I know that you think I'm naïve. I know that this whole plan is a long shot, and I should just put an end to it and have him killed. But, no, because who's going to do that? I should put an end to it and kill him myself, if I can. Because I'm not going to send people on suicide missions."

Elle thought there might be more to this than just that Peter understood Sylar. "I think Sylar likes you, Peter. He has said that he doesn't want to kill you. I don't know, maybe it's just that having your ability would take all the fun out of it for him, but maybe he still thinks of you as a brother a little bit. Did your relationship change when you thought you were brothers?"

"Some, but we're not..." He ran his hand through his hair. "He's not..."

"And all of this happening around the same time that you and Nathan have that falling out..."

Peter did not know what Elle's objective was in bringing this up, but she might have had a point. Something Nathan said the night of the Pinehearst incident kept running through his head. "It's not what I would have done." What did Nathan mean by that? That he would not have saved Peter? Peter refused to believe that was true, but what else could it mean? On the other hand, Sylar had saved him, in a way. When his own father had wanted him killed, which Peter could accept, Sylar had broken his fall. And they had only been brothers for a week or so. "What if I am letting... _that_ affect my choices? What if I'm letting people die because I feel that I owe Sylar something?"

Elle seemed to be getting uncomfortable. "I can't do this with you, Peter."

"Do what?"

"Get touchy feely. Have you tell me your fears and about emotions with any specificity. I just... I just can't."

The last thing Peter wanted was to get "touchy feely" with Elle, but she had brought it up to begin with. More than that, he was confused by her reaction to a couple simple questions. "Why can't you talk about emotions?"

She bit her lip. "I think we need to keep a professional detachment because Sylar... He thinks there's something going on between us. And I don't want to know these things, because if I relate them to him it's going to give him the wrong idea."

"Why would he think that there was something going on between us?"

Elle shook her head, as if to signal that she knew this was going to sound ridiculous. "Because you kissed me once, nearly a year ago. And I lied about it at first, which only made things worse. And now I like your future, and he... he just got weirdly jealous about that. He hasn't said it, but I think he would kill me if I broke his heart again. Like if I got involved with someone who was like a brother to him."

If Elle thought that he was interested in her as more than an agent, she was mistaken. "I don't want to give you the impression that we're ever going to get involved. Because we're not, and that kiss was--"

"I know what the kiss was. I'm pretty sure I know what you thought of me at the time, and I don't need to hear it. I don't want to give Sylar the impression that you and I are ever going to get involved either. Because that could... Because I think he would hurt me, emotionally, physically, any way he could think of."

The things Elle was saying worried Peter. "If you feel like..." He leaned forward, but he stopped himself from touching her. "I just assumed that you wanted to be with Sylar. Obviously, it was never our intention to force you into an abusive relationship. And that probably sounds ridiculous because he's already killed you once. But..." He struggle to find the right way to express this. "If you're only with him because you're afraid of him, we'll protect you from him."

Elle got up from her chair. "That's exactly what I'm talking about, Peter. I'm not afraid of him. And how do you think it's going to make Sylar feel that you, the good, clean, honest one, is _protecting_ the woman he loves from him?"

"You just said--"

"I don't intend to break his heart again." _Too honest_, she thought.

Peter had tried not to read her mind up to that point because he was trying to treat her like a colleague rather than a suspect. But now she was being so maddening that he needed to just to know what was going on with her. "If he has threatened to hurt you if you leave him, that's not healthy."

_Has he?_ "Look, he's kind of a disturbed person, and it shouldn't surprise you that I find that a little attractive. I said he might hurt me because that's what he's done in the past when I hurt him. He taunted me with my father's murder and then tried to kill me. He hasn't said that he would do that again. In fact, he'd like to think that he wouldn't, but when he's been hurt, he gives into some really dark impulses. I want to be with him. I don't need to be protected from him. I just want you to understand that he's a little guarded about the idea of having a future with me. I want you to understand that this is going to be a process. Even if I get him settled down, he still might kill the occasional person." _No, that's going to make him..._ "Can I take that back? With a little time, I think I can get him to stop completely."

Peter was quiet for a while, and Elle wondered what he was thinking. Then she wondered if he was reading her mind and whether she had been thinking anything she should not have. Then she realized that if he was reading her mind, he knew that she was thinking about him reading her mind. She wished he would just say something.

Peter sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but his cell phone rang. He answered it. Elle watched his face as he listened silently to the caller. She could tell it was bad news, and she had a feeling she knew what it was.

"I'll get someone on that right away," he said, before snapping the phone shut. He looked Elle in the eye. "A woman was found in South Carolina with the top of her head cut off, and the brain was missing. I want you to go down there and investigate with Noah."

"And what is it you want us to do there?"

He shrugged. "I'm not trained as an agent. I don't know what you people do, but just do it. Figure things out, come up with a plan. And keep me posted."

"Oh." She could tell he was frustrated. "You're doing a good job, Peter. I think you've got some really good ideas, and I'm excited to be working here. You just need to learn a little more about actually running the company. I can help you with that."

He looked doubtful about the quality of her help. "You don't want Sylar to get the wrong idea."

Elle smiled. "I'll call Noah, and we'll work out how to handle this." She turned to leave, even though it was her office. "You are going to reimburse my travel expenses, though, right?"

He pushed away from the desk. "I'm sure Nathan will take care of that."

"See, you're already delegating. That's a great start."

Peter slid past her to leave the office before her. "Eventually I'm going to want specifics on what you plan to do about Sylar."

Elle waved good-bye to Peter. "And eventually I'll give them to you. But right now, I'm going to call Noah." She pulled out her cell phone to do so, and Peter walked away down the hall.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26:**

As she waited for his plane to get in, Elle wondered how long Noah could continue living in California and trying to work out of New York. She knew that Peter would not say anything because they were practically family, but really, this was not working. Elle had purposefully taken a later flight to South Carolina, and after renting a car and mapping out the route to Rebecca Finder's house, Elle still had to wait over an hour for him. She supposed that if Sylar ever worked his way out west, the tables would be turned.

When Noah's flight did get in, the first thing he said to her was, "I thought you were supposed to be preventing things like this from happening."

Elle ignored him and led the way out to the car. As she slid into the driver's side, Noah raised his eyebrows but did not say anything. Once they were insulated in the privacy of the car, she said, "If you think I can get him to stop killing cold turkey just by asking, you are giving me way too much credit."

"Did you ask him?" He sounded skeptical.

She turned over the engine and headed out of the parking lot. "Maybe not in so many words. I told him about what Peter saw, but you have to understand that we've had a really rocky relationship. And even now, I'm here with you, hunting him. So it's not really the right time to be talking about babies."

"Don't talk about it. Just get pregnant."

She thought about making a sarcastic comment about how easy it had been for Sandra to get pregnant when she decided she wanted to, but Elle realized that would be a bad idea. Noah tended to be a little sensitive about his family, and she was stuck in a car with him. Whether or not Elle would be able to conceive easily was not the issue anyway. She found the difference in the approaches advocated by Peter and Noah to be telling. She had not quite figured out Noah's agenda yet.

Elle reached behind herself to get her purse out of the backseat. Doing this caused the car to swerve a little. She knew that Noah hated when she drove because she was a little reckless, but she had never been in an accident. She thought he was overreacting when he grabbed hold of the door handle. She found what she wanted, which was Rebecca's file, and handed it to Noah. "This would probably be a good time to read up on the victim."

Noah looked through the file. "I remember this girl. She did not handle it well."

In the airport, Elle had read about the murder in the local paper. "Apparently the body was found covered in a large amount of unidentified liquid."

Noah raised his head from the file. "What good is it going to do him to be able to melt solid objects? Why would he seek that out?"

Elle had no idea. She thought that ability seemed pointless, and with a list of every known person with abilities, he could pick and choose the really good ones. "Maybe it's not about usefulness. He might not be entirely rational when it comes to getting new powers. Also, we don't know what kind of list he's working off of. Maybe he didn't know what she could do until he got there."

Noah saw this as another opportunity to criticize her. "Why is it that we don't know anything about his list? Shouldn't that be the kind of thing you're finding out for us?"

She shook her head. "I don't think that is what I'm supposed to be doing. Peter doesn't want me to take advantage of Sylar's feelings for me in that way. He just wants me to help Sylar. And if he thinks that I'm using our relationship for the company, the whole plan will fall apart."

"Peter's goals and mine may not be entirely in sync. I think the most important thing is to stop Sylar from killing people, however that can be accomplished, whether it ends up helping him or not."

"See, and my goals run more along the lines of not having him kill me. He's a little scary sometimes, so I like to keep him happy by not lying to him." Elle had meant it when she told Peter that she was not afraid of Sylar, but she thought it might be more convenient if she pretended to be right now. It seemed to work, too, because Noah did not say anything. "So if you saved my life, you're kind of responsible for it now, right? I mean you gave it back to me."

Noah still did not say anything for a while. Finally, he sighed. "I didn't mean for you to hear that. It doesn't change anything between us."

Elle wanted to get into that, because his response made her think that maybe he did feel a little responsible for her life. However, they were nearing Rebecca's house and they needed to discuss how to handle the case. "There's cops there. You want to go with the reporter angle?"

Noah slouched down in the seat and put his hand up to block his face. "Keep driving."

Elle was intrigued so she drove past the Finder house. "What was that all about?"

Noah looked back. "That was Agent Hanson from the F.B.I. The last time she saw me, I was a suspicious paper salesman in Texas, who may or may not have been harboring Sylar. So I don't think it's a good idea if she sees me in South Carolina in the vicinity of another Sylar murder."

She could definitely see his point. It was best to keep the F.B.I. out of their business. "Okay, well, maybe we don't need to see the scene anyway. We know what happened. He killed her and then melted something. Or she melted something; it doesn't matter. I doubt that he's hanging around the scene of the crime, and even if he is, he's probably invisible."

Noah looked at her with curious eyes. "And you're okay with that? Because I think it means that he killed Claude. How did Sylar even find him?"

Elle wanted to get off the subject of Claude. "Don't be jealous just because he did what you couldn't. And I don't know how he did it. I don't ask him a lot of questions about those things."

"I'm not telling you to take advantage of what he might feel for you, but maybe you should be asking those questions."

Elle sighed. She was finding this conversation incredibly awkward. She had been driving around in a circle, and now they were nearing the street where Rebecca lived again. "What do you want to do about the F.B.I.?"

Noah shook his head, thinking hard. "Normally, I would agree that Sylar's not going to be there and that he's too smart to leave a trail. Except he might want you to be able to follow him. I don't think we can assume that he wouldn't do that. Unless you have some insight that you want to share."

Elle considered this. "I don't think he would want me to follow him. If he wants me, he knows where to find me. Plus, he's doing this to..."

"Yes?" he prompted

"He wasn't crazy about the idea of settling down with kids, so this could be partly him acting out against that future. In which case, he might want me to be able to find the trail of bodies." Elle believed that this was a reaction against the things she had said to him, but she still doubted that he wanted her to follow him. "But really, we should never underestimate how much he likes killing."

Noah regarded her closely for several moments. She knew that people like Noah and Peter had trouble understanding how someone could be in love with a serial killer, but having known her as long as he did, Noah really should not have been surprised that Elle could fall in love with one. "Okay," he said. "Drop me off somewhere and see what you can find out doing the whole reporter thing."

–

In Daytona Beach, things got worse for Sylar.

He found a lifeguard whose lungs could adapt to breathe in any environment, and he killed him in the lifeguard station without much trouble. After, however, he felt the need to find out more about this man. Sylar went through the lifeguard's locker and found his wallet.

On the list, Elle had mentioned that the lifeguard was married. As Sylar sat outside the man's apartment waiting to see his wife, he wondered why he was torturing himself like this. The woman who came running out of the apartment, probably having just heard the news, was very pregnant. The list said he had no children; apparently Elle had not known about this.

Sylar put his head against the steering wheel. He reminded himself of evolutionary imperatives. He was a natural progression of the species, and nature kills. All those things he had told himself before, the things he had told Mohinder, sounded hollow to him now. It occurred to him then how ironic it was that he complained that Noah did not see them as people, when Sylar never had either.

–

Elle picked up Noah at the same diner where she had left him a half hour earlier. "The cops don't have any leads. And I've been thinking about the people he's killed. After he killed Arthur, he went to Indiana, then to California. Then he was quiet for a while and we caught up with him again in Michigan." She left out anything about Calgary or him coming to see her. "He killed someone in Maryland, and he must have gone to England at some point."

"What's your point?"

Elle set a course for the airport because she figured that was where they would want to be when the conversation was over. "There's no pattern. He's probably purposefully darting all over the place to keep us from getting a fix on him. He's not going to leave a trail."

"You have a phone number for him, don't you, Elle?"

When Elle had called Sylar using her own cell phone, she had no doubt that the company would know. "Yeah, so?"

"Call him. Tell him you're in South Carolina and you want to see him."

Elle got the feeling Noah had been doing some thinking of his own. "And then what would I do?"

"Try again. Keep trying to convince him to give it up until you're successful."

By that, Elle knew he meant that he wanted her to draw Sylar out of hiding so that Noah could try to kill him, probably with a shotgun blast through his head. She pulled out her cell phone anyway, because she figured the odds that Sylar was still in town were slim, and he would know when she was lying. She called the number, but there was no answer, which was probably even better. "He's not picking up," she told Noah.

She was so surprised when the phone started to ring that she almost swerved into head-on traffic. Noah took the phone away from her. "It's a Washington area code," he said. "It's probably just Nathan." He answered it, and judging by his end of the conversation, Elle assumed he had been right. She wondered why Nathan would be calling her.

"Actually we're in South Carolina right now, and there's not much to see... Tomorrow morning, okay... Good-bye." Noah hung up the phone. "Nathan wants to meet with us at his office in Washington tomorrow. It's five o'clock now; is there any way we could justify taking a plane?"

Elle pulled off the road and plugged Washington, DC into the car's GPS. "A seven hour drive? We are definitely flying. I'm not supposed to take this car out of the state anyway."

Once she got back on the road, they arrived at the airport in about five minute. She had known that was where they were going to end up; it just was not for the reason she thought.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

**--  
**

_Night 75:_

Sylar spent a least an hour that night face down in the hotel room's bathtub, breathing water. There was something appealing to him about the feeling of drowning and not drowning at the same time. Something had broken inside of him, or it had been fixed; he was not sure which.

He rarely felt remorse. As far as he was concerned, that was the best thing about himself. Even when he killed that grandmother in Michigan or Elle's friend in London, he had gotten over any guilt he felt really quickly. The only times he ever felt remorse were when he killed Brian Davis, when he was trying to be better for Angela, and when he killed Elle. He managed to get over all of that; he had even mostly gotten over killing Elle.

He still loved the powers, and he still loved the killing, but it was painful now, because of Elle. He knew from the beginning that he could not be with her and not be affected. Everything about her reminded him of everything that was wrong with him, and he had known that the day she woke up in his motel room. Later, when she asked if it was okay if she continued to call him Gabriel, he knew that it would not be. And now, when she said that she did not care about the kid and that she only wanted to be with him, he knew that was not going to be enough for her. So he kept his head underwater and tried to figure out what he was going to do.

That night he had his first real nightmare since before he killed Angela.

They were living in the Bennet house, which was something that he was still confused about. Elle climbed up the stairs, carrying their sleeping son, who was much younger than in the last dream, probably about a year old. "Noah's sleeping," she whispered. "He's had a long day."

Sylar wanted to ask if he could hold him, but he knew that it would be better not to jostle the kid around. He just watched as Elle placed the boy in his crib. She kissed him on his forehead and left the room, pulling Sylar with her. "We need to talk," she hissed.

He followed her into the master bedroom. "About what?"

She handed him a newspaper from the dresser. "West Rosen has been missing for four days. Do you know anything about that?"

He threw the paper on the bed without looking at it. "No."

Elle narrowed her eyes at him. "I know it must be hard on you, knowing that one of them is living just a couple blocks over. No one would blame you if you slipped."

Sylar laughed sarcastically. "No one, really? That would be okay with everyone if I killed Claire's boyfriend? Did they tell you that?"

"Ex-boyfriend," she corrected. "I just want you to be honest. I'm not the enemy here."

"Oh, but you could be. You've always been a good company girl, and no matter what's happened, the company is still the enemy. You can't be loyal to both of us. As long as you're working there, you—you sort of are the enemy." That sounded horrible to his ears, but he did not want to show her any weakness in his stance, so he let the fact that he just called her the enemy hang in the air.

"Did you kill him?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"No, what would you do if I had? Would you turn me over to your friends at the company?"

She shook her head. "You're acting paranoid. I love you, Sylar."

She never called him Sylar. "No. You've just been waiting for me to screw up. I have worked so hard to give you what you want, and you don't appreciate it at all." He threw her against the door. "If you want me to be a monster, I can be a monster."

In the other room, Noah started to cry. "Let me go to him," she said calmly. That was the voice she used when she was trying to sooth him. Although she was not going to admit it, she was afraid.

"Not yet." He choked her, raising her up off the floor. "Not until you say that you believe I didn't kill West."

"I believe you," she rasped out.

It was a lie. He could tell. He let her fall to the floor anyway.

He realized this was a dream, rather than a premonition, when she started to bleed from her forehead. She was rubbing her neck when the cut appeared, starting on one side and emerging slowly across her forehead as though he was doing it right then. As the blood dripped down into her eyes, she reached up to touch her head. "Oh, not again," she said, more annoyed than anything.

"Has this happened before?" he asked.

Elle struggled to get up to her feet. "Surely, you remember." She collapsed again.

Sylar went over to her side. She was already dead when he got there. He pulled her body into his arms. "It always ends in catastophe," he said to her, knowing she could not hear him. It seemed like an absurdly melodramatic thing to say, but he did.

Noah was still crying in the background. Knowing he would probably wake some time soon, Sylar laid Elle down again and stood. He needed to know if he had killed West.

He told himself to fly and immediately rose off the ground.

When he woke up, he found it interesting that all of his previous nightmares had taken place in the past. His mind had spent so much time reminding him of what he had done to her, but it never worried about what he might do to her now.

There was a small twinge in his brain that reminded him of the fact that Elle, or any mother, was missing in the future he had seen. Because it was the future, there was a slight possibility that it was not just a dream. Sure, that blood had appeared out of nowhere, but he did not know what he would be able to do then. There was also a chance that it was a mixture of the two, dream and premonition. The parts where he killed West and choked Elle could still have been real. But he was not going to kill her when he choked her. He tried to determine whether that was comforting or not, since he had still physically assaulted her.

–

The next morning, Elle and Noah received word that there had been another murder in Florida, but since they were already in Washington, they figured it was best to go ahead with the meeting anyway.

On the way into Nathan's office, Noah reminded Elle that Nathan was to know nothing about Peter's orders or that he was even giving any. Only answer the questions that are asked, don't volunteer any information, but don't make it seem like you are holding anything back. He kept going until Elle finally told him to stop talking. She knew how to handle Nathan. "One last thing," Noah said. "Don't antagonize him. He still thinks he's our boss."

Elle knew that as well, but she thought that it might be difficult for her not to antagonize Nathan. She found him somewhat insufferable, and she glad that Sylar had ruined the Nathan plan, because she did not really want to spend the rest of her life pretending to be in love with him.

When they got to Nathan's office, he was on the phone. Noah knocked on the door, and Nathan waved them in. As Elle stood before the desk, Noah nudged her with his elbow and whispered. "Stand up straight, and don't cross your arms."

Elle sighed and put her hands behind her back. She was pretty sure she had been standing up straight, so she did not change her posture any. While they were waiting for Nathan to get off the phone, she started to twist around impatiently, but she stopped before Noah could say anything. She thought it was rude of Nathan to take a phone call when he knew he had a meeting. She figured this was some power move to establish that he was their superior and that he could summon them to Washington and then make them wait. Of course, she also understood that being a senator was his real job, and he probably needed to downplay any work he was doing at the company.

Finally, Nathan hung up the phone and turned his attention to Elle and Noah. "I want to talk to both of you about Sylar, since you were the agents assigned to his case."

Elle looked at Noah. She should have realized that would be the reason Nathan would want to see both of them, but she was not sure what they were going to tell him. "What do you mean we _were_ the agents? Are you taking us off the case?" It would complicated things a lot if he were.

"Well, that depends on you two. He has been killing people all over the country for two years, and I want to know what you plan to do to stop him."

Elle wanted to let Noah take control of the conversation, but she could not help feeling defensive. "We have stopped him. The company had Sylar in custody twice, once because of Noah and once mostly because of me. It's not our fault he's still out there. It's because people like Linderman and your mother wouldn't let us kill him when we had the chance." She left off the part where her father actually ordered agents to save Sylar's life on Kirby Plaza because there was no point in getting into that.

Nathan looked back and forth between Elle and Noah. "I don't know what my mother and Linderman did, but I definitely want you to kill Sylar the first chance you get."

Nothing Nathan could say would change Peter's orders, nor would it change Noah's plans, so Elle did not concern herself with that. She did find it interesting that Nathan was advocating that course of action though. "We're absolutely willing to do that, although it is more difficult than you're making it sound. But what about his rights? Due process and all that."

Nathan, a lawyer, stared back at her like she was crazy. "He doesn't need a trial; everyone knows what he did. He--" Nathan was getting flustered. "He doesn't deserve due process of law."

She raised her eyebrows. "Wow. I'm so glad you're not the district attorney anymore."

"Elle," Noah warned.

She knew that she was antagonizing him again. "I'm sorry. I agree that he doesn't need a trial. I know exactly what he's capable of. I think the people on this side of the desk have been far more affected by his crimes than you have."

Nathan was not having that. "He killed both of my parents. He cut off the top of my mother's head while she was still alive. Do you have any idea what that must have felt like?"

Elle started to laugh, which must have seemed really insensitive, but she could not help it. "Yeah. I have a pretty good idea. He's tried to cut off the top of my head twice. Sylar also cut off the top of Claire's head. I don't know if you care about that, but I know Noah does. They have like a blood feud going now. Motivation is not our problem. Our problem is now that he has Claire's ability, he is nearly impossible to kill."

Nathan leaned back in his chair. "When did he try to cut off the top of your head? You don't even have a scar. And I saw you the night he killed my mother. Everyone else in that room died, but you didn't have a scratch on you."

Elle rubbed her forehead. She really did not want to get into her life story with Nathan, but it seemed like she was going to have to. She opened her mouth to speak, but Noah cut her off.

"I can confirm that he tried to kill her. The second time the cut was so bad that we had to use Claire's blood to heal her. That's why there is no scar, but she has experienced it. Now, why he didn't kill her in Angela's office? That I'm still a little curious about myself."

Both men turned to look at Elle. She had no idea what she was supposed to say. If Noah wanted to tell the truth, he would have. She was sure that his neglecting to mention that she died the second time Sylar cut her was intentional. "I've already explained that," she said by way of stalling.

Noah smiled. "I know." He faced Nathan again. "According to her, she offered to sleep with Sylar. And although he did not take her up on that offer, he was so amused that he spared her life. The surveillance videos had no audio, but it's possible."

As far as Elle could remember, that would be a plausible explanation of what happened in the videos. She did not like that explanation because it made her sound bad in a multitude of ways, but it was only Nathan, so she was willing to let Noah tell whatever lies he wanted. "You can smirk all you want, but I'm still alive and An—the other people in that room aren't. Why don't you tell Nathan more specifics about how you plan to stop Sylar."

"Well, you could try to sleep with him again."

Since that would be the only way to get pregnant, Elle thought Noah probably meant that more than Nathan would realize. "How is that helping?"

"Okay," Nathan said. "Neither one of you is helping right now. What do you plan to do about him?"

Noah shrugged. "We're trying to track him, but he's too smart to get sloppy, and with every kill he gets more powerful. He has no weakness that we can find. There's no plan; there's nothing we can think of to do. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them."

Elle had never heard Noah express such a defeatist attitude before. He could always think of something to do. She thought this was probably his own subtle way of antagonizing Nathan, by pointing out that Nathan had no idea how to handle Sylar. "Have you tried live bait?" Nathan asked.

Noah shook his head. "Every person with abilities could be bait to him. How do we get him to go after the one we want?"

Elle knew the answer to that. "You make it an ability he really wants, something too good to pass up. He does have a weakness; it's power." She felt that she probably should not have said that. She did not really want to help them kill Sylar.

Nathan's expression suggested that he had not expected her to say anything that useful. "Do you have any idea what one such ability would be?"

Elle was tempted to say flight and try to convince Nathan that he should be the live bait, but she knew that was a bad idea because if Nathan got killed Peter was sure to pull the plug on Sylar. "Not exactly. Do you?"

"That's one thought," Noah said. "Any other ideas?

Now Elle was sure that he was baiting Nathan. "Oh, Noah, I think we've wasted enough of the Senator's time. We're trained for this, we've stopped him before, and we are going to figure this out. Thank you for your time, Nathan."

She started backing out, pulling Noah with her. To her surprise, Nathan let them leave without a word. When they were out of the building, she held Noah back. "Just so you know, if I offered to sleep with Sylar, he would not have turned me down."

Noah rolled his eyes and kept walking. "Yes, Elle, clearly. I just wanted to distract Nathan with our bickering and avoid giving him any real information. All in all, it was a good meeting. And now we need to get to Daytona."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Elle and Noah had not really expected to find anything in Daytona Beach. There were no shocking revelations; the lifeguard was dead, and Sylar had left no clues as to where he was headed next. The main reason Noah had even insisted on heading down to Florida was that they had told Nathan tracking Sylar was all they knew of to do, so they had to at least pretend to do it. After finding nothing there, Noah decided that it was time for him to go back to his family. Elle understood completely. She felt that there was no point in following behind Sylar, taking pictures of dead bodies. She was getting really tired of air travel anyway.

Elle knew that as soon as she got home and was able to check over her phone for bugs, she needed to call Sylar and tell him to slow down. If he kept killing people at this pace, Peter was sure to get squeamish. Elle felt that she needed at least one more chance to get Sylar on board before Peter gave up on him. Because, she rationalized to herself, it would be better for everyone, not just her, if they could have the future that Peter saw.

–

Sylar stayed in Daytona longer than he should have. There was nothing left for him there, but he could not bring himself to leave. He was afraid to try to kill again. It was not that he thought he would not be able to do it; the killing was always easy enough. It was what came afterwards that concerned him, how he might feel about it after the person was dead, after it was too late to turn back. He was afraid that he would feel remorse.

The second night after he killed the lifeguard, he had a nightmare similar to the one he had the night before. By the third night, he knew that his nightmares were back in full force. He had had them every night, until the night he told Elle that he loved her. Then, with Angela's ability, he had dreams that were unpleasant, but it was not the same. He thought the old dreams of her dying were gone forever, that he was getting over what he had done to her. And now they were back.

After the third nightmare, Sylar drove into Sarasota. There was a man there with impenetrable skin, and with all the talk of trying to kill him by decapitation, Sylar was realizing how handy that could be. From working at the company, he was already aware of the possibility of being gassed in order to bring him in, which was why he wanted the adapted lungs from that lifeguard. With impenetrable skin, he would be absolutely invincible, with the only risk left being the Haitian's ability.

The man in Sarasota, Robert Keep, was unmarried. At least he was the last time Elle checked. Sylar told himself it would not have made a difference if Robert did have a family because he had been chosen specifically for his ability. And Robert probably did have a family, parents, brothers and sisters, but Sylar tried not to think about that.

When he got to town, Sylar spent a couple hours orienting himself. He knew it was not necessary and that he was just stalling. On the other hand, however, he thought maybe it was better not to rush into anything. He could kill Robert whenever he wanted. What bothered him was that he was not sure he wanted to, even though it would be such a helpful ability. With a kind of self-loathing he had only ever felt as Gabriel before, he decided to wait one more night. So he checked into a motel.

That night, Elle called him, which made things a little better, in the moment at least. He had never hated himself when he was around her. Just hearing her voice made him feel better about himself. Yet he knew that in the long run, it was going to make things a little worse for him.

After the greetings were taken care of, he heard hesitation in Elle's voice. "I just want to let you know that I'm not trying to hold you back with this."

He thought she meant the phone call, so he said, "I know that."

"I haven't even said it yet." She paused. "I think that you need to slow down the killings. I mean I know that you have, since you haven't killed anyone, that I know of, since the lifeguard. And even if you did today—Don't tell me; I don't want to know. But even if you did, that was still slower. I just don't think it's a good idea for you to kill two people in two days or anything like that."

Sylar was quiet, and she must have taken that as a bad sign, because she continued. "I'm only saying this because of Peter. In fact, it might be... I wanted to make sure that you understood the consequences your actions could have. Once Peter gives up on you, that it. So if you've really rejected that future, then you can go ahead and kill as many people as quickly as you want. But..."

There it was. She was making it even harder for him to kill. "Are you saying that we can't have children if we don't do it Peter's way?"

"No, we can... I never thought about there being other options. You... By all accounts, you became a better—you changed because of the kid. So I think that we can't—I think that we... It's not Peter's way; it's just the only way anyone has seen it actually work."

"Is it about—I just want to know honestly, and I won't get mad. For you, is it about having children or about me changing?" Sylar realized that if all she wanted was kids, they might be able to find a different way to make that work.

Elle blew out her breath. "Um, I don't want to think that children could never be in our, or in my, future. But there is the other thing, too. I guess I just don't want to think that we're bringing out the worst in each other if we could be bringing out the best."

Sylar thought about his decision to kill Robert Keep. He was just one last person that Sylar needed to kill to know that he was safe from the company. He did not like that he was thinking of Robert as the last person, because he did not intend for this to be it. He wanted to go on and realize his maximum potential. "I don't feel like you're bringing out the worst in me by allowing me to be who I want to be."

"You don't think that enabling you to be a killer by providing you with a list of potential victims is bringing out the worst in you? You don't think it's bad enough that I ruined your life by bringing Trevor Zeitlen to your apartment that night? Now I keep laying temptation at your feet, and then telling you I want you to be better."

What she said about temptation remind Sylar of the prayer they recited at church every Sunday when he was young. _Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil._ It seemed really appropriate in that moment. She had provided the temptation that he should not have been led into, but he was the evil that she needed to be delivered from. "Do you think that I'm bringing out the worst in you?"

There was silence and then a sigh. "No, that's not what I meant."

"Are you sure? Because I asked you to kill Annie if she moved, I forced you to betray the people you work for--"

She interrupted him. "You didn't force me to do anything."

He tried to think of something else, anything to suggest that he was bring out the worst in her. "I fed your sadistic side by letting you cut me." Remembering the way her eyes had lit up, he realized that if he got impenetrable skin, she would not be able to do that again. "Did you really enjoy that? Is that something you're going to want to make a habit of?"

There was another silence. "No, that was just a one time thing."

He smiled because she was lying. "You do complicate things."

"People keep telling me that." On the other end of the line, Elle had been trying to downplay how much she had actually liked watching him heal because she did not want to freak him out. She should have realized that it would not work. She did not know why she even tried to lie anymore. "But as for whether you bring out the worst in me? No, you're just appreciating me for who I really am."

She realized that was the mirror image of what he had said minutes before, but that was different. The things she had brought out of him were far worse that anything he brought out of her. "If anything, you bring out a gentler, more forgiving side of me. So that's not what I meant. I meant that I don't like thinking that I bring out the killer in you if I could be bringing out something better. And that's better in the objective good versus evil sense, not in the subjective better than what you are now sense. Because I really do like who you are."

"Do you feel any remorse over the people you've helped me kill?"

She felt like that question came out of nowhere. "If you're asking about the ones I actually helped with, Angela and Annie, no. I do wish I hadn't led you right to Claude though."

"What about the rest of them? The man in Calgary or the grandmother in Saginaw?"

Elle shrugged, but then she remembered that he could not see her. "I don't really think about them much."

She wished he would just leave it at that, but he kept pushing. "But when you do think about the blood shed and the lives destroyed, do you feel any remorse?"

Elle did not know what he was looking for. "I don't think that remorse is the word I would use."

Sylar wanted to ask what word she would use then, but she spoke up again. "You know the one I do feel bad about, always have? Trevor Zeitlan. But that's more because of what happened to you, not because I actually feel bad for the guy."

He remembered then what it was that brought out the worst in her. "Forget the other examples I gave before. Doesn't it bring out the worst in you to let you enable my killing in that way?"

Elle sighed. "You didn't _let_ me do that; I volunteered. When I was ready to go after Annie that first morning, you talked me down. You never asked me to find you people to kill. In fact, you said I didn't have to. When you were shielding me from all that bad stuff, I seduced you into a partnership. In a lot of ways, you could say that I forced you into letting me be a part of it. But I don't think this is the kind of conversation we should have over the phone. We can argue about who did more bad things to whom when we see each other again."

"We can try, but you know I hold the trump card."

"Well, I would have killed you first, but you just wouldn't die."

Sylar would have pointed out all the reasons why that was different, but they were not supposed to be arguing about that now, not until they saw each other again. "I want to see you soon, a few days. I just need to finish up here, and I'll come back to New York."

After that, they said their good-byes and hung up.

Just as he thought it would, the phone conversation made him feel both better and worse. Now she was sending him mixed signals. She liked who he was now, but she still wanted him to be better. Sylar was not sure what to make of that.

He still had not decided whether or not to kill Robert. He thought that Elle had a point about slowing down because he had not entirely rejected Peter's future. He told himself to sleep on it and make the decision in the morning.

–

–

**Author's Note:** I finally got in a Veronica Mars reference. I don't know about you, but I'm excited. (And if you know the show, it's a really good one.)


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

--

_Night 78:_

In Sylar's dream that night, he and Elle were having such a mundane conversation that he thought it must be real. It had something to do with whether or not they could afford to hire a decorator, but Sylar was not really paying attention. He did not see what was wrong with the decorating to begin with.

Elle seemed to realize that he was not engaged in the conversation and leaned over to pick up the baby, who was playing on the floor. As she sat down on the couch and bounced Noah on her lap, Sylar smelling something burning. He looked over at the kitchen, but he knew instinctively that there was nothing in the oven. The smell was getting stronger. "Can I hold him?" Sylar asked.

"No, he's fine right where he is, aren't you, Noah?" She was using a simpering tone that reminded him strongly of Sandra Bennet talking to Mr. Muggles.

"I'd really like to hold my son," he said, a little more forcefully.

Elle gave him a look. "Honestly, Gabriel, I don't know what's gotten into you. It's like you don't trust me with my own son." Just then, her clothes caught on fire.

Noah started to cry. Sylar walked over so that he was standing right in front of her. "I trust you, just please let me hold him."

Noah's cries got louder. "Do you want your daddy, is that it?" Elle asked. "Here." She held him up for Sylar to take.

The baby was fully on fire by the time Sylar took him from Elle. He tried to smother the flames, but he knew the boy would be severely burned if he even survived. To Sylar, it seemed like one thing for Elle not to realize she was on fire, but what kind of a mother could not tell when her own child was hurting?

All Sylar could think to do was "stop, drop, and roll," so he placed Noah on the floor and rolled him around. Suddenly Elle started to scream too. Knowing she had become aware of the flames, Sylar did not even look up. There was nothing he could do for her if she was going to burn to death.

When he woke, Sylar recognized that he had been a little angry at Elle in the dream for not taking better care of their son, and that was why he did not even bother to try to help her. He knew that was a little irrational because he was the one who set her on fire in the first place. He felt that there was more going on in that dream than usual, and he tried to piece together what it might mean, for example, that she sounded more like Sandra than herself.

In the morning, it was not any easier for Sylar to decide whether or not to kill Robert Keep. Other than Elle's fetish, he did not have any good reason not to kill the man. Allowing her that indulgence did not seem like a good trade off for the chance that he might be decapitated. The fact that she would no longer be able to cut him was not what was holding him back. He was just scared to try another kill. As he became more powerful, he should be less scared, in general, but it was not working out that way.

He followed Robert, undetected, for most of the day. There were several times when it was the perfect moment for Sylar to make his move, but he did not. One good thing came out of that; he was now sure that he could control the hunger if he wanted to. He still felt it and craved the ability. There was still a certain compulsion running through him, but it was no longer uncontrollable.

As the day came to an end, Sylar still had not made a firm decision about Robert's fate. He thought about spending another night weighing the pros and cons, which he had not really done the night before. However, he realized that he could not stay in Sarasota indefinitely, waiting to make a choice. He drove north for about an hour and got a motel room in Tampa just to remove himself from the area. He told himself that he could always go back if he changed his mind.

The next day, he elected to continue going north. He knew that if he was ready to go back to New York, he could always fly and get there the same day, but he was not entirely sure that he was ready to see Elle, so he opted to drive and take days rather than hours to get back to her.

–

Sylar got into New York City in the afternoon of his third day of driving. Instead of continuing just a little bit farther upstate, he stopped and spent the night in the city. At that point, he was just avoiding her, which was odd because he had just driven for three days to see her. He rationalized that one more night would not make a difference.

He called her at work the next day to give her time to steal more sweeping equipment if necessary. She said she would let him know when the apartment was clean.

When he got the call, Sylar headed to her place having no idea what he was going to say to her. He did not know where this was leading since they were at a crossroads where they both wanted different things. Except Sylar was not sure what he wanted anymore.

The second he walked through the door, literally through it, Elle launched herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around him. It appeared that she had really missed him while he was gone. He kissed her for a good while, because he had missed her too, but then he set her down on her feet and took a step back.

Elle misunderstood and said, "Oh, no, we're good. I bought some condoms, so we can do this with no... consequences."

Of all the things that Sylar was worried about, her getting pregnant was low on the list. On some level, he was still hoping that it would just happen so that the difficult decisions could be made by destiny or whatever. So that was not why he had pushed her away. He had felt that they needed to have a serious talk, maybe not to argue over who had done more harm to whom, but to resolve something, anything. It seemed to him now that could wait. He pulled her into the bedroom, and sure enough, there was a box of condoms right there on the nightstand. A twelve-pack, which seemed ambitious to him, although he knew they were not all for that one night.

He walked over the nightstand, closing the bedroom door with a flick of his wrist. He looked carefully at one of the condom wrappers to see if there were any visible pin holes. With his telescopic vision, he was sure that since he did not see any, Elle had not tampered with them. He did not think he would be angry if she had, but he felt better knowing that she was not trying to manipulate him like that.

On the other side of the room, Elle took off her shirt. "Hey, I've always wondered if your telekinesis was subtle enough to unclasp a bra without breaking it. Have you ever--" She shrugged. "--had occasion to find that out?"

Sylar walked over to her, carrying the unaltered condom. "No, because I never took off Maya's bra."

Elle laughed. "That's not why I asked. I'm done with Maya." She hooked her thumbs in her belt loop. "So do you want to find out if you can do it?"

He thought it would be easier if she turned around, but on the other hand, he liked a challenge. With what basically amounted to snap of his fingers, her bra fell forward off her shoulders. Elle held up the clasp for inspection. "Wow, you didn't even bend the hooks."

"I'm pretty sure I could get those pants off too." Without waiting for a response, he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants, again using only his mind. They did not immediately fall to the floor, so, with no hands, he pushed them down off her hips. After just a second of staring at her, he quickly ripped off his own clothes and pushed her up against the wall.

–

There were very few people who knew about Peter's plan. It was really just himself, Noah, Elle, and, to a certain extent, Sylar. Peter still was not sure who he could trust in the company, and he did not want to risk any of this getting back to Nathan. This meant that, especially with Noah in California, surveillance of Elle fell to him.

Peter was not stupid. He knew that Elle had her own agenda and that the trick was to get her agenda to coincide with his. When he considered the few conversations they had, he still was not sure if he had accomplished that yet. After just listening, off and on, to Sylar and Elle having sex for about two hours, Peter was sure that Sylar had his own powerful methods of persuading Elle to want what he was offering. All Peter could use to convince her was the kid.

Peter had not actually listened to them have sex. He took the headphones off as soon as it became clear that was what they were doing. He checked back every once in a while, but as far as Peter could tell they had not stopped once. He did not want to give up after going through the trouble of making sure that Elle took faulty sweeping equipment home, but this was getting obscene.

Peter had been fortuitously walking by Elle's office when she got the phone call from Sylar. He turned himself invisible as she peeked her head out the door to make sure no one was listening. Since Peter might never again have the opportunity to know exactly when and where they would be together, he knew that he needed to find out what Sylar and Elle said to each other when they thought no one was listening. He was aware that sex would probably be involved, but he had foolishly assumed they would talk first. He was starting to think it was foolish to assume that they were going to talk at all.

He put the headphones on again, just in time to hear Elle say, "I love every inch of your body." There was a long pause, and then she asked, "Is it too soon to have sex again?"

Peter swore that if Sylar said no, he was done with this. However, instead Sylar said, "Yeah, I'm going to need a few minutes before I can even think about that."

–

**Author's Note:** I'm sure somewhere all that telekinesis and clothes stuff has been done before, but I don't remember ever reading it. So I'm not _intentionally_ ripping anyone off, but I really feel like it must have been done before.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Sylar was exhausted. They had made a substantial dent in that box of condoms, and he did not know how Elle had the energy to even think about having sex again. They really needed to talk now anyway. That was what he came for; the rest of this was secondary, not that he had not enjoyed it immensely. The problem was that he still was not sure what it was that he needed to say to her to resolve this conflict he was experiencing.

Elle was drumming her fingers on his chest, and he figured she was thinking about cutting him again. She had that look in her eye. "So," he started, "what have you been doing since I left?"

She stopped drumming and splayed her hand on his skin. "Oh, I visited a dead heroin addict in South Carolina, and then we headed down to Florida to see another dead body, a really gruesome scene."

It had never occurred to Sylar that she would follow him. "We?"

"Yeah, me and Bennet," she said as though it was obvious, which it really should have been. "He's my partner, and when Peter got word that you killed another person, he sent us to work the case. Because we are the agents most familiar with your case and with Peter's plans for you." She moved over so that her head was on his chest. "In between tracking you, however, we also had a meeting with Nathan, which was interesting."

Sylar already knew what Peter wanted from him, but he was curious to hear what Nathan had to say. "Really? How so?"

She gave a small chuckle. "Well, he thinks he's our boss. He doesn't know anything about what Peter has been doing at the company in his absence. So, he needed to be handled. I think that was the first time I really felt that Noah and I were working _together_ as partners. But Nathan called us to Washington to tell us to kill you the first chance we get. No surprise there, you did murder both of his parents. Obviously, though, we have superseding orders. Noah did tell him, and this might be important, that the reason you didn't kill me that night in Angela's office was because I offered to sleep with you."

Sylar did not know how he felt about that. Something about it sounded wrong. "If you sleep with someone just so that they won't kill you, isn't that considered rape?"

Elle scoffed. "So? You're a serial killer, Gabriel. Who cares if Nathan thinks you're kind of a rapist too?"

Sylar could see her point, although he did not like to think of himself as a serial killer. On the other hand, whatever else he might be, he was not a rapist, and that distinction seemed important to him. "I'd just rather if he didn't."

"He doesn't because Bennet said you turned me down. Personally, I would rather if Bennet hadn't said _that._ But you found the attempt amusing and spared my life." She lifted her head. "More important than that, I don't think Nathan knows that I died. He didn't believe me when I said you tried to kill me, and, when confirming it, Bennet completely glossed over the part where I died. He said that the second time it was so bad that they had to use Claire's blood to heal me, which does not... I don't think that Nathan knows anything about me."

Sylar considered this. He supposed it would make a difference if he ever had to talk to Nathan, but he did not really foresee that happening. If he had to deal with the company, he would rather go through Peter. "Okay, other than that, is there anything else I need to know about?"

Elle laid her head down again. "Nah. Oh!" She sat straight up. "Peter might think that you're a little bit... abusive."

As far as Sylar was concerned, that was worse than Nathan thinking he was a rapist. The worst thing about it was that there was strong evidence to support such a conclusion. "Why does he think that?"

She sighed. "It's kind of my fault. I get nervous about that mind-reading thing he does, so sometimes I try to steer the conversation into less dangerous territory. So I mentioned that you found out about our history and the kiss and that you got kind of jealous. And I'm not sure why, but I might have said something about how I thought you would kill me if you thought I was cheating on you or something. And there may been something about you hurting me that Peter completely misconstrued. And he got the impression that I was only doing this because I thought you would hurt me if I tried to leave, which is not what I said, or it's not what I meant to say. Actually, I don't think you needed to know that. I'm sure it's not going to come up."

She had not really said anything to assuage his fear that he was actually abusive to her. "No, I'm glad you told me. Did Peter say anything else?"

Elle regretted saying anything. She was still learning the difference between honest and too honest. With Sylar, she thought it was always better to err on the side of too honest, so she continued. "He said that he would protect me from you." Sylar made an audible sound of disgust. "But I told him that I didn't need to be protected. I'm not afraid of you."

"Maybe you should be," Sylar said. She expect him to be angry or hurt, but he sounded eerily calm. "Maybe he's right, and you do need to be protected from me. I have tried to kill you several times now."

Elle rolled her eyes. "That was a long time ago."

He shook his head. "Not that long ago. It's been about three months since I actually succeeded in killing you."

"You've chan--" She rethought her word choice because she was afraid he would respond as negatively now as he had on the beach, just without the killing. "You're doing things differently now. Since that night, you haven't once raised your hand to me in anger."

She saw something dark pass over his face. "That's not exactly true. I kill you every night in my dreams."

He spoke in a voice so low that she had trouble hearing him, but she did not want to ask him to repeat that. She was sure that she had understood him anyway. "In the future? Like in Angela's dreams?"

He would not look her in the eye. "No, it started long before that. It's been every night since the motel room in Costa Verde. You just start bleeding from your forehead or you catch on fire."

Elle could see how that might be a little disturbing, but it was not as bad as she had thought. If he was dreaming about killing her in the future, that would be something to worry about, and she would like to think he would mention it so that they could avoid that. "They're dreams. You think that makes you abusive?"

"One time in the future, I choked you, and I think that might have been for real."

Elle felt that it was really important to clarify exactly what he was saying. "You killed me? You choked me to death in the future?"

"No, I wasn't trying to kill you. I'm sure of that. I was just angry because—" He sighed heavily. "The point is that I choked you. I raised my hand to you in anger."

Elle wanted to point out, again, that he had only done that in a dream, but she refrained because he seemed really concerned about it. "Yeah, that's probably going to happen from time to time."

"You seem surprisingly okay with that," he observed.

She really was. She had never expected their relationship to be perfect; he was a serial killer after all. As long as he was not going to kill her, she could get used to idea that his anger might cross a line. He had not said so, but she got the feeling that he might have been justified in being angry in the dream anyway. "Gabriel, I _have_ raised my hand to you in anger since the motel in Costa Verde. I shocked the hell out of you when you weren't even breaking up with me. And that's probably going to happen again. I can—I can almost guarantee that if we stay together and have any kind of future, I will electrocute you again. That's the kind of girl I am. And even if I never get that angry with you again—although if you choke me, I will. But even if I never do, I'm still going to want to shock you or cut you just for fun. Because I'm a sadist." She let that sink in for a moment. "So maybe Peter is right. Maybe we both need to be protected from each other."

Elle watched his face as he rejected that idea. "I don't need to be protected from you."

"Why not? I've done horrible things to you."

Sylar shook his head. "Because—Okay I see your point. But I still don't like thinking that I'm going to hurt you. Just promise me one thing. When we have chil—if we have children, promise me that we won't do those things in front of them. Or to them." He paused like he was really thinking about that. "What kind of parents are we going to be?"

"Well, you're the one who sees the future. What kind of father were you?" She felt safe bringing that up. By all accounts, he had been a good one.

Sylar got a far off look on his face, but then he shook out of it. "Speaking of parents, have you found out anything about mine?"

Elle had not thought about his real parents once since the night they killed Angela, but she did not want to tell Sylar that. She settled down against him again. "Not really. I read your file, but there's nothing about them in there, so I started thinking about--"

He interrupted her. "Elle?"

She raised her head to look him in the eye. She knew what he was going to say. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to give you a pass on this one, but I'd really like it if you stopped lying." His tone was a bit hard.

When she made the decision to lie, which was stupid in the first place, she had not considered that he might think she was keeping information from him. She grimaced sheepishly. "I completely forgot about your parents. I haven't done anything. I'm sorry, but starting tomorrow, I will--"

He looked visibly relieved. "That's okay. There's not really any hurry. I'm not sure it even matters anymore. You're my--" He stopped himself.

Elle's breath caught in her throat because she thought the word he was omitting might be "family." She did not want to push him to say that, but she was excited about where this was leading. He had already slipped and said when instead of if they had children, and she found the use of the plural interesting there. He was still running hot and cold, and that was a little frustrating, but it really seemed to be leading in a good direction. She let out her breath, hoping she had not jinxed it.

"So," he said, signaling a change in subject. "You really don't want me to kill Molly Walker?"

Her mind still on the jinx, Elle was suspicious of the question. "Right," she said warily.

He nodded thoughtfully. "I think that the best way to prevent that from happening is for me to get her ability elsewhere. So, I was looking at the list, and there's a woman in Europe who appears to be able to do what Molly can. So... have you ever been to Prague?"

"No, but I've heard that Central Europe is lovely." Elle was not really paying attention. In fact, she was not sure why he was telling her where he was going when it was probably better if she did not know. She was just trying to figure out how to explain to Peter that every time she thought they were making progress, Sylar decided to kill someone else. She really did not know what she was doing wrong.

He gave her a searching look. "Maybe I should rephrase that. Do you want to go to Prague with me?"


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note:** I'm sure you're wondering what is up with me and these "Nights." This is the third chapter of this night, and I've only just now gotten around to labeling it. (Which happened in Chapter 24, too.) The thing is, those labels are usually reserved for dreams, and it'll all make sense at the end. (At least it all makes sense to me.)

--

--

**Chapter 31**

--

_Night 83:_

Elle had wanted Sylar to take her with him since that first morning when he kicked her out of the car at a gas station. So, now when he asked her to go to Prague with him, he really expected her to say yes, but she did not say anything at all. "I get that going to Prague to kill a woman is not necessarily the most romantic trip in the world, but..."

Elle's eyes grew wide. "Oh, yes!" She laughed. "Of course, yes, like you even have to ask. I was just trying to think of what I should tell Peter."

Sylar stopped himself from groaning at the sound of that name. "Why do you have to tell him anything?"

"Well, if you're asking me to go with you in general, not just to Prague, but to run away with you, I don't. But if this is just going to be one trip, and then I'm coming back here, I'd like to still have my job when I get back."

Sylar really had already known that was why she needed to talk to Peter. He just got sick of talking about Peter all the time. "You probably are coming back."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She did not sound bitter or angry about that. "I figure that Peter must want me to spend time with you. That's pretty much my assignment. So, I don't really see any reason not to just tell him the truth. But I want to point out that the only reason I'm thinking about Peter is because of the company. It has nothing to do with Peter."

The way she said that made Sylar think that he had become as annoying about Peter as she was about Maya. "Okay, you handle the company. You've done a great job playing both sides so far."

Elle seemed to understand that comment for what it was, a display of insecurity. "But you know, right? You know that I'm loyal to you?"

He told himself that it was not intentional the way she phrased that and that she had not been trying to prevent him from detecting a lie. "I know."

"All right, well, that said, there is one little issue I want to discuss with you."

Her tone put Sylar on alert. "What?"

She hesitated, gathering her words which only made Sylar more nervous. "When you killed Angela, I didn't really see what happened, but... I did see it a little when you killed Trevor Zeitlan, but that was on camera... I'm not exactly squeamish about blood, but you had Angela's all over you." She held out her arms to demonstrate. "Oh, and the brains. I don't ever want to see anyone's brains, but I especially don't want to see you handling them, or prodding, or dissecting, whatever it is that you do with the brains. What I'm trying to say is I want to go to Prague with you, and I'm not trying to stifle you or say that you shouldn't kill that woman. I'm just saying that I don't particularly want to see it, because it's kind of gross."

Sylar smiled, because that was not so bad. "I don't really need help with the killing. I've gotten pretty good at it." In fact when he thought about it, he did not particularly want Elle to see it either. He had not even wanted her to see him kill Angela, or Trevor Zeitlan. The main reason he wanted Elle to come with him was because he thought it might help him resolve the conflict he had been feeling. It was counterintuitive, because she was the reason he felt conflicted, but she was also really supportive. She would never let him sit outside an apartment in a parked car waiting to see the family he had destroyed. So, while he could handle the killing, he might need her for what came after that. If the remorse started to set in again, he thought it would be better if he had her near him. Even if she made him feel worse, it was worth experimenting with. There was no way he was going to admit any of that to her though. He was afraid any mention of conflicting emotions would give her false hope. "I was more interested in being able to spend some time with you without worrying about Bennet showing up at the door. You know, go someplace where we could actually go out to dinner or... out in general."

Her eyes got bright. "Like a date?"

Sylar vaguely remembered Elle mentioning that up to a certain point, she had never been on a date. The way she reacted just then made him realize that she probably still hadn't "Yeah, exactly like a date."

"This sounding better and better all the time." She lay on her back next to him. "So tell me more about these dreams where you kill me."

Sylar had not meant to bring those up at all. He had been keeping them from her since they started, and he would have preferred to continue like that. "I don't really want to talk about those."

"Yeah, I really think we should, though. If every night, you're--" She clicked her tongue while running her finger over her forehead. "--slicing me open, I'd like to hear more about that. There might be some pent up aggression we need to work through."

"No, I'm not--" Sylar sighed. They were going to have to talk about it, because Elle needed to understand that he was not doing it out of anger. "Most of the time, it's just a normal scene, and then it happens. I don't do it to you; it just happens. And you don't notice at first, so I have to go on while the blood runs down your face or you slowly burn to death. And then you become aware of it, and you touch your forehead, and you ask me what I did. And then you die, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Elle got a strange look on her face. "You're right. That is not pent up aggression. That," she said with a smile, "is your subconscious torturing you because you killed me. And that started right after they pulled the plug on my mission?"

He could kind of see where she was going with this. "Yeah, the very next night."

She was really excited to hear that. "I wish you told Angela and Annie that before you killed them. Because it was working, and I did not blow the mission; Annie did. I could have had you--" She turned her head to look at him. "Although, obviously, I'm glad that we're... that I'm not helping the company hurt you anymore. This is much better than that."

Until the last part, she was sort of reminding him of that time, back when she was pretending to be a figment of his imagination. In asking about the dreams, she had been a little pushy. And the glee she displayed afterwards seemed really familiar. "If you had continued haunting me, what would you have done next?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I usually just winged it."

"So wing it." Asking her to haunt him again was a split second decision that he did not initially understand.

"What?"

It was slightly weird, but he wanted to hear her be sarcastic and harsh again. He realized that he missed that biting cruelty. Nice, forgiving Elle, she could be with anyone. The way she was when she was haunting him, that was all his. "Wrap yourself in a sheet and stand by the wall. Let's find out what would have happened."

She laughed incredulously. "I don't think that's necessary."

He handed her the sheet and covered himself with the comforter. "I know you want to. And honestly, if someone is going to punish me for killing you, I'd rather it was you than these stupid dreams. At least I'll know that you're not going to die."

Elle was not sure that she really _wanted_ to, like he said. That was not what her excitement had been about before. It just felt good to be vindicated. She stood and wrapped the sheet around herself. "I was really mean though."

"That's okay. I can take it. Don't hold back."

Elle walked over and leaned against the wall, even though the only reason she had done that before was so that Annie could see her. She was a little confused about what was happening. Besides, while she had never worked from a script, she did usually spend the days thinking about where she was going to start. Now she really was going to have to wing it. "Okay, pretend to wake up."

Sylar closed his eyes, and Elle tried to find the right attitude. It had been a while since she did this, and she was not as angry anymore, but if he wanted to do this, she was going to do it all out. When he opened his eyes again, she smiled. "Hi there." She started to walk toward him, trying to think of something to say. To stall, she sat on the bed and rearranged the sheet to show a lot of thigh. "Do you remember what you said to me the day you killed me?"

"I think I said a lot of things that day."

"That you did." She had not had any particular thing in mind when she asked the question, but something came to her. "I was specifically thinking of when you told me that losing your abilities was a relief."

He nodded. "I do remember saying that."

He was giving her nothing. "I'm just wondering how we got from that moment, which led somewhere great, to you killing me. When did you decide to kill me?" She felt a little bad about emphasizing the murder, but he told her not to hold back.

Sylar grew thoughtful. "Not until the beach. I just realized that it wasn't going to work. We couldn't change. I couldn't change, and I wanted to spare you... whatever was coming next."

Now she had something. She lay perpendicular to him and put her head on his stomach. "That's not what you said before. You said you wanted to get rid of me so that you could be alone."

"Because I already knew that it wasn't going to work out."

Elle wanted to point out that it was going to work out, then and now, but that was not relevant right then. "You know what I think? I think you're trying to rewrite history to make yourself sound better. How's that working out for you? Do you actually believe that you were trying to spare me?"

Sylar did not answer the question. "Is this one of the dreams where I get to kiss you?"

Elle had no idea where that had come from. Although he had been a little obsessed with kissing her back then too. The decision about whether or not to kiss him had always been a difficult one for her. But now there was no Annie to tell her she was going too far. "Of course." She held up one leg. "Do you see how much thigh I'm showing?"

She rolled over, still mostly perpendicular, but with her face above his. Something was bothering her though. She did not feel like he was taking this seriously, when it had been his idea in the first place. She lowered her head to his, but between kisses, she said, "Just remember... this isn't real... because you killed me."

He pulled completely away from her. "You _are_ mean, cruel even."

He did not sound that upset about it. Elle got close to him so that her lips were almost touching his. "No, if I wanted to be cruel, I would ask you why you killed your mother."

"Time out." He made a T with his hands.

Elle knew she had gone too far. She was getting into it, and maybe she had enjoyed torturing him a little too much. She sat up and was about to apologize when Sylar said, "I love you so much when you're like this. I love you all the time, regardless, but... I know it means I'm bringing out the worst in you, but I like it when you're cruel. It's kind of sexy. I'm not going to talk about my mother though. Time in."

Elle was overwhelmed by this. She thought about calling another time-out just to clarify whether she was supposed to be punishing him or turning him on, but she decided to just continue doing what she had been doing because it seemed to be working. "I know that you're not going to talk about her. You never do." She tried to think of something else to say. "I was just realizing how much one afternoon changed the course of my life. When Peter came crashing out of that window, I chose to run into Pinehearst. I could have gone with him and Claire, and I'd be alive right now. I should have. I always liked Peter better than you anyway."

Sylar shook his head. "That's a lie."

She patted his arm. "Keep telling yourself that. So I could have gone with them, and maybe been a hero, but instead I ended up burned to crisp on a beach with my head cut open." She paused. "It's all about the choices we make, Gabriel." She made the time-out signal. "Actually, knowing what I know now, I would have segued that into talking about the future Peter saw and the bad choices you've made. But it seems like all we ever talk about anymore is the future. So I don't know where to go from here. Plus, Annie probably would have put you to sleep as soon as we started kissing anyway. She would have thought it meant I was soft on you."

"But then we would missed the part about my mother and the thing about be better off with Peter. That really stung."

She was surprised to hear that had bothered him when it so clearly was not true. "Well, I wouldn't really have been better off with him. I needed you to take away my pain."

"The point is you were better at this than they gave you credit for. You knew exactly what to say to make me doubt myself. I never really believed that it was all in my head, but I didn't know what to believe. You pushed all my buttons perfectly."

Elle felt that Sylar was just saying that to be nice. It was probably true, because of his later dreams, but he did not have to say it. It had always bothered her that Angela and/or Annie decided she was not doing a good enough job. "The moment I knew it was working was when you told me that you killed someone. You sounded so penitent. 'I killed someone, Elle,'" she repeated, trying to recreate the tone he had used. "And that was the night that Annie warned me she was going to leave me behind if I couldn't convince you that I didn't love you anymore. Wouldn't it have been better to convince you that I was still in love with you?"

There was an awkward pause that Elle did not understand until Sylar spoke. "Yeah," he said with a slight hitch in his voice. "I mean, that's what you did, and it's working out pretty well for you. I guess Peter learned from his mother's mistakes."

Sylar was brooding, and that was never a good sign. She did not even know how to respond to that. Technically, he had a point about Peter. "You can't honestly be implying that you think I'm only here because of Peter's plan." When she parsed his words again, she realized that was not what he was implying. "No, what is it? That I convinced you I was in love with you so that I could hand you over to Angela? Considering everything, that sounds even more ridiculous. But you know what? You're right, because I have played you perfectly. I--"

"I know," he interrupted. "You made me fall in love with you and keep coming around because... you wanted me," he finished dismissively. "I know what you were going to say. I recognize the sarcasm. I wasn't trying to imply anything. I was just thinking. With a little more insight on Angela's part, or if they had listened to you, I might be—You have to understand how terrifying it is that their plan might have worked."

Elle had not thought of it that way before. While she took pride in the fact that it was working, she could see why he might be less than thrilled. "This way is definitely better."

"What were they going to do to me—with me?"

She did not really know the details. "Probably the same things as before. She wanted to break you down so that she could rebuild you into... I don't know what, something she could use. And after that didn't work, they only kept me around because they saw me as your weakness."

"Weakness." He seemed to be trying out the word. "That's what you are, a weakness," he said as though he had just figured out a difficult puzzle.

Elle felt that they should have had more sex and less talking. She was going to have to start censoring herself because she had been letting the wrong thing slip a lot recently, at least twice in that conversation alone. "I'm not a weakness. Caring about me is not a weakness."

"I didn't mean it in a bad way. It just seems like a really good word to describe how you affect me."

If he was saying that she made him weak, she did not understand how he could mean that not in a bad way. "Are we still on for Prague?"

"Yes." Elle was still sitting up, but Sylar pulled her bracing arm out from under her so that she was lying on her side. "Let's see, it's Wednesday? So I'll make the arrangements, you talk to Peter, and we'll leave this weekend." He rotated so that he was also lying on his side.

He leaned in to kiss her, but she had one last thing to say before she forgot. "Okay, but I'm going to be getting a fake passport tomorrow so that they can't track us. So before you book the flight, wait until I get you the name."

Sylar smiled and moved in again to kiss her. He pressed her onto her back. Seeing where this was leading, Elle reached out for the condoms, but he intercepted her hand. Lacing his fingers with hers, he pinned that arm over her head. Elle was surprised, but if he did not want to use protection, she was not going to complain.

–

Peter took off the headphones. His initial reaction to everything he had heard was that both of them were crazy. That was the easy observation to make. However, throughout the conversation, it slowly became clear to Peter that Sylar really cared about Elle and worried about hurting her again. Peter determined that Sylar probably was not abusive, although Elle might be.

He really did not understand that whole part about the haunting, which was the section that convinced him they were crazy. He was able to piece together what was happening and that that whole thing had been the basis of his mother's plan, but he found it really confusing why they were doing that then.

Peter had been surprised to hear how often his name came up in conversation. It seemed like they talked about him as often as anything else, and it really did not sound like Sylar liked him very much. At the time, he had assumed Elle was exaggerating about Sylar being jealous, but now he was not so sure, which made Peter a little uncomfortable.

There were two things Peter found really interesting. The first was that Elle had apparently told Sylar not to kill Molly Walker, and this entire trip seemed to be born out of a desire to comply with that request. The second thing he found interesting was that Sylar seemed just as unsure about Elle's loyalties as he was. Peter supposed he would get a better read on her the next day, when he would find out exactly how much of the truth she intended to tell him.


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long. It's been a busy week. (If you were one of the first ten or so people to read this, I forgot that Elle had been to Ireland, and I had to fix that. So it is slightly different. )

–

–

**Chapter 32**

Coming into work the next day, Elle saw that Peter was in Nathan's office, although she still mostly thought of it as her father's. At the time, that did not seem strange to her since Peter had commandeered it in Nathan's absence. She did not go in to see him just then because she was not looking forward to having another conversation with him and his mind reading abilities. She had a fake passport to secure anyway.

When she passed the office later, she saw that Peter was still there. That was a little more suspicious. He usually preferred to be out working with people than cooped up in an office. Since he was so conveniently easy to find, Elle leaned through the open door and asked if she could talk to him.

Peter waved her in. He looked out of place sitting behind the desk. The office's previous occupants had all been much more formidable looking than Peter, and although Elle knew that Peter was very powerful in his own right, she had a little trouble taking him seriously right then. She tried though, because she knew that he was one of the most dangerous people in the company for Sylar.

She sat in one of the chairs. She still had not worked out exactly what to say to Peter about the contents of her conversation with Sylar the night before, but she had stalled long enough. "I saw Sylar yesterday." She had a feeling Peter already knew that.

He raised his eyebrows. "And what happened?"

Elle tried not to think at all, but that one question caused jumbled memories to flood into her mind. There was only one thing that happened that Peter needed to know about though, and she was going to try her best to restrict the information she gave to that alone. "He asked me to go away with him. I think that's a good sign, don't you?"

"Yeah. Where does he want to take you?" The fact that it was like pulling teeth to get her to tell him anything gave Peter a good idea how loyal she was to the company. It was still strange for Peter to think of himself as "the company." It did not matter to Peter if she wanted to protect Sylar however, as long as she was going to be somewhat honest with him.

"Budapest," Elle said, sounding uncertain.

Apparently she wasn't going to be honest. Peter had expected her to be a better liar than that though. "Are you sure about that?"

She recovered nicely. "Actually, it might have been Bucharest. I always get those two confused."

Peter wondered if that had been her plan all along, to keep him from getting a fix on her fake destination. He wondered why, if she was going to lie, she picked such random places as Hungary and Romania, instead of going with something more traditional, like Paris. He wanted to cut to the chase. "Yeah, or it might have been Prague."

Elle's eyes got wide. She did not say anything for several seconds. Then she shrugged and tried to play it off. "Right, somewhere in that area, anyway."

He wanted to applaud her because it was a valiant effort. "Just tell me that you're going to try to stop him from killing that woman."

"It's really not fair for you to read my mind," she pouted.

Peter figured she would assume he that was what he was doing. He agreed with her though, and that was why he had tried not to read her mind if he could help it. "You're right. I'll stop."

She looked wary. "I know the assignment is to get him to stop killing, but--"

Peter cut her off. "It's not an assignment. Let's stop thinking about it that way. This is us working together to achieve a mutually beneficial result. A result that is going to be better for Sylar in the long run too, if only because it will keep him alive. But in order for this arrangement to work you need to be honest with me. If you could just stop seeing me as your—as Sylar's adversary, maybe you could learn to trust me."

"I do trust you, Peter." She sounded hurt that he would think otherwise. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have told you about Prague."

"You didn't tell me about Prague," he pointed out.

She ignored that. "It's not me who thinks of you as an adversary. It's Sylar. And I'm just trying to walk a tightrope where I cooperate with you without doing anything that he might see as a betrayal."

"Well, maybe Sylar wouldn't see me as an adversary if you didn't--" He stopped himself from saying anything that would reveal how much he knew. "I don't know what you told him about the kiss, but I'm sure you made it sound like much more than it actually was."

Elle looked very annoyed. "No, I told him that you only did it so that I wouldn't notice you were trying to escape. I wasn't trying to make him jealous. He... backed me into a corner, and I had to tell the truth, because if he found out later, from someone else, it would be worse. And he sees you as an adversary because that's what you've been ever since you've known each other. It has nothing to do with me."

Having heard the way she talked about him, the way she threw him in Sylar's face, the way she said that she always liked him better than Sylar, Peter believed that, at the very least, she was fanning the flames. He wanted to change the subject though. "You never answered my question about the woman in Prague."

Elle shook her head and rolled her eyes as though she thought his question had been stupid. "I'll try, but he's said on several occasions that he feels like I'm stifling him, which I guess is what you want. But he doesn't always respond to it well. So it's a delicate situation. I can't just ask him not to kill her."

Peter thought about Molly Walker. "Have you tried asking? Because if you haven't, it might be worth finding out if it would work."

He could tell that Elle was going to say that it would not work, but then she seemed to change her mind. "Maybe it would if it was someone I actually had a reason to want alive, but if I ask him not to kill a random Czech woman, that's the equivalent of asking him not to kill anyone."

That was good point, and he was glad that she finally seemed willing to cooperate. He just was not sure what reason she gave for not wanting Sylar to kill Molly. Peter knew that if he wanted Elle to be honest with him, he should be honest with her and and tell her about spying on her, but he had trouble believing in her. "Okay, I'm trusting you," he said as though it would make it true. "As long as you're keeping the end goal in mind, you can handle this however you think is best."

Elle could tell that there was something that Peter was not saying, and it bothered her that she could not figure out what it was. Here was the first supervisor with a valid reason for mistrusting her judgment, and yet he was first to tell her to use her own judgment. She realized that both Peter and Sylar were trusting her to handle the other, or at least were claiming to. "I want him to stop too. I want a future." She sounded really defensive.

"I know. I hope you have a nice time in Prague," he said mildly.

Peter lowered his head and looked at whatever was on the desk, which Elle doubted was anything important. He was just signaling that he was done with the conversation. Elle got up from the chair. All things considered, that had gone better than she expected.

–

Starting at the airport, it was a little awkward being with Sylar in public. Of course, he did not look like himself, which was awkward to start with. He did not look like "James" from the bar either. She was basically preparing to go to Europe with a man she had never seen before.

That was not the only reason it was awkward though. Up to that point, they had a relationship that was entirely made up of private moments, and now the dynamic felt off. They had been out in public before, in their earlier incarnations of a relationship. But nothing they had back then, before he was Sylar and when they were working together for Arthur, was like what they had between them now. Because of their past, it felt even more awkward that it felt awkward to be with him. She wondered if Sylar was feeling any of the awkwardness on his end.

Sylar did not know what to say to Elle. They could not talk about the things they normally talked about, not in the middle of a crowded airport. The one thing they could talk about was the possibility of having children and whether Sylar was ever going to want to marry her, but he certainly was not going to bring those topics up right then. So they were sitting in the chairs, not talking or even reading, just staring into space.

He knew that he needed to say something to her, but there was nothing that came to mind that did not involve abilities or murder in some way. So he really searched. "So, you've never been to Prague, but have you been to Europe?"

Elle jumped when he spoke. Apparently he had startled her. "Um, yeah. I've been to Ireland. And I went to London after... I visited Claude a few months back. That's about it though."

Sylar should have realized that she had been to London. With one question, he had inadvertently reminded her that he killed both her father and her friend. He kept his voice low. "You're probably not going to like this, but one of the reasons I... had such a problem with Claude was that I didn't like that you were protecting him from me. All that talk about loyalty. I was jealous that you might have stronger loyalties to another man. And I didn't really see him until after... I realize that he probably wasn't one of the co-workers that you were involved with." He had not been aware of her sexual history at the time, but before seeing Claude, Sylar had wondered if there was more than friendship there.

She gave a wry laugh. "No, he wasn't. I never slept with Bennet either. He wouldn't do that to Sandra."

Sylar was not sure if she was implying that she had tried and been turned down. "Is that the only reason?"

Elle laughed. "Well, I have daddy issues, so maybe." She thought about it for a moment and then squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She laughed again. "No, that's just disturbing."

The awkward tension between them had mostly dissipated, but Sylar was not sure that this topic was any better than the other ones he had rejected. "Okay, that all I needed to know."

Elle got a devilish look in her eye. "Do you want to know who they were? Because I can list them for you. You already know about Adam and John. There was also--"

"I've never been to Prague either," Sylar interrupted loudly. "In fact, for most of my life, I hardly left New York City. I didn't leave the country until..." He did not know how to describe the circumstances under which he first left the country. "Mexico. I've been to Canada obviously, and England. But I've never been to the continental part of Europe either."

She hooked her arm in his. "Then I'm really honored that you invited me to go with you."

Looking back on their conversation, Sylar was surprised that she had handled talking about Claude as well as she had. He had basically told her that her refusal to tell him where to find the man made Sylar want to kill him more. That was the kind of thing that would have turned her all angsty back when he first killed Claude. "Have you really made your peace with what happened to Claude?"

"Oh, yeah," Elle said. "Turns out I was more loyal to you after all."

The way she said that made Sylar feel, for probably the first time, that they really had a shot at a future together. "You are a very forgiving person."

She smiled and hugged his arm tighter. "What can I say? You bring out the best in me."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33:**

When they got into their hotel room, Sylar was finally able to drop the facade. He got tired of not looking like himself.

"So, basically," Elle said, "this week is going to consist of us having lots of sex and hardly leaving this hotel room, except for you to go kill someone, right?"

He threw their suitcase onto the bed and unzipped it. "Well, we'll also go out to dinner at least once, because I want to give you a proper date. And it's probably going to be just as awkward as it was in the airport, but that's okay because that's how a first date is supposed to be."

Elle disappeared into the bathroom with an arm full of products. When she came out, she said, "You know, you get jealous because I was with a few other men before you, but you dated two women, and, as an outsider to that, it seems like there's a certain intimacy to that that I've never experienced. I mean, some of mine were one night stands, but who knows how long you were with those two women."

Sylar thought about pointing out that he knew, but that did not seem like a good idea. He hated talking about Maya with her, so he could imagine that he would like even less talking about women he had actually been involved with. "I guess there is a different kind of intimacy between dating and just having sex, but you and I were never just having sex. This has never been just physical. That--" He did not want to say it, but he had to. "--emotional intimacy is there too."

He was pulling clothes out of the suitcase, but she stopped him. "It's just when you say that you had two semi-serious relationships, what does that mean exactly?"

He sighed and turned to look at her. "With one of them, it was just a few months; it was hardly worth mentioning. The other one, and this all I'm going to say about that, I was actually with her for over two years."

That was not what she wanted to hear. "Wow, two years. That sounds a little more serious and less semi."

"Okay, well, you should realize that after two years, I never felt about her the way I felt about you after two days. I never felt like this about her. I feel bad saying that because she was a really nice woman, but I never really loved her. Are we done with this now?"

He went back to unpacking, but she just stood there. "We'll be done with it after you take me on a date."

"I took you to Prague! I rarely even went into Manhattan with her. And I'm going to stop talking about her because she deserves better than this." He knew he should not have said that, because Elle would not like it, but it was true.

"Why did you two break up?"

He shook his head. "I'm not talking about it, Elle. I'm just saying that going to Europe with a woman is a much bigger deal than going on a date. It's a really big deal actually. Kind of scary."

"What?" Elle smiled playfully and put her arms around his neck. "The big, bad serial killer is scared of little old me?"

She moved her hands down to undo his pants. "You know, I'm feeling really jet-lagged. I think we should just stay in tonight. We can have our first date later."

--

Their first dinner together in a restaurant was just as awkward as Sylar predicted. Once again they had trouble finding a safe subject. He could not ask her anything about herself because everything in her life, her childhood, her job, her family and friends, everything was tied to her power or the powers of others. The only normal thing there was to talk about was his life before he met Chandra Suresh. This topic of conversation was not entirely satisfactory for Sylar for a couple reasons. One, he did not really like talking about himself, especially during that time, and two, it encouraged Elle to ask questions about his ex-girlfriend.

He leaned forward. "I know you haven't been on that many dates, but exes aren't really an appropriate subject."

Elle had taken a bite of her dinner, and she swallowed hard, seeming eager to learn the protocol. "What are appropriate subjects?"

He shrugged. "Just getting to know you type things. Where you grew up, maybe some politics."

"Well, I already know where you grew up. We did all that getting to know each other back when we first met. So, politics? I'm mostly apathetic, but I will say that knowing that, as a New Yorker, Nathan Petrelli is my senator worries me. I don't think I would have voted for him given the chance."

That surprised him a little. "So you really hate Nathan that much? I would think you'd want someone like him in the Senate."

"Someone like us, maybe. But he is just so pompous and self important. And he came in and tried to take over everything when he had no idea what we do at the company. So, yes, I kind of hate Nathan. You're from New York, how do you feel knowing he's one of your senators?"

Sylar had been operating outside the bounds of the United States government for a while now, so the make-up of the Senate was not that important to him. "To clarify, your opinion of him has nothing to do with his politics?"

Elle sipped her wine. "No, I don't know anything about his politics. Which is a little suspicious to begin with."

"Have you tried to learn anything about his politics?"

Elle smiled. "That would require me to learn something about politics in general."

That was pretty much what Sylar had expected. "I would have voted for him when he ran for Congress, but that was mostly because I was going to become president if the bomb went off. I didn't vote then though, I was too busy turning in a terrorist to the FBI." He smiled at the memory. There was one murder he did not feel any remorse about.

She lowered her voice. "Um, you might want to ix-nay on the omb-bay talk."

"Oh, right." He had not even realized that he was doing it again. "I can't do it, Elle. I can't have a normal conversation without it ending up in inappropriate territory."

"Well, if you're going to be inappropriate anyway, you might as well talk about your ex-girlfriend."

The problem with talking about his ex-girlfriend was that they broke up because she wanted to get married and he did not want to get married to her. That was a subject he wanted to avoid with Elle because it was just going to lead to her asking what the chances were that he was ever going to want to marry her. Since that conversation had felt rushed after two years, he could not imagine having it after only a few months. It was true that he loved Elle in a way that he had not loved his last serious girlfriend, but that did not mean that he was eager to talk about the future. They talked about the future enough as it was. "Look, if I talk about her, I'm either going to have to talk about how great she was, which will make you crazy jealous because that's how you get, or I'll have to talk about why you are so much better than her, which isn't fair to her. I didn't mind doing it with Maya, because I didn't care about Maya, but--" Sylar stopped himself because he just realized he implied that he still cared about his ex-girlfriend. "But the women I dated when I was Gabriel? That was a different life."

"Maybe it is for you, but you're still Gabriel to me. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but when I look at you I don't just see Sylar; I see everything that you are. And I'm not saying that I want you to change. I just want you to... be everything that you are. I think you should stop pushing him away, trying to pretend that you're not that guy anymore. Because he's still in there too."

Sylar took a sip of wine because he did not know what to say to that. The idea of finding a balance, being Sylar and Gabriel, really appealed to him in that moment. He did not want to admit that to Elle though. As hard as he was trying, he still was not sure that he would be able to do it, to give her what she wanted. "Okay, I appreciate your honesty. And maybe you're right. Maybe there could be more to me than Sylar."

There was no joy in his voice when he said that, and Elle was afraid that she had pushed too hard. She should be happy just to be in Prague with Sylar. Why did she feel the need to push him toward a normal life when they were having a perfectly nice time? She had tried so hard to avoid any talk of Peter, although that Nathan stuff had come a little close. She wanted to keep him happy during this trip, but she could not stop herself from saying the wrong things.

After that point, the conversation became a little strained, and Elle was sure that she had ruined things. However, as soon as they got back to the hotel Sylar was more passionate than ever. The second the door was closed, he ripped off her shirt, effectively ruining it, but she did not care about that, and threw her to the bed. Once again, he passed on using protection. Elle could not find rhyme or reason to when he chose to use a condom and when he decided to forgo them. Here she was thinking that they were headed for a fight, and instead they had some of the best sex she could remember.

–

By their fourth day in Prague, Elle's prediction that they would hardly leave the room seemed to be accurate. She had no complaints about that, but they had come to Prague with an objective. They were eating room service in bed when she asked, "When are you going to kill that woman?"

Sylar stopped with a piece of bread halfway to his mouth. He seemed to have no idea how to answer that. "Soon."

She was a little confused by his hesitation. "Okay, it's just that we're only here for two more days. It seems like you should start thinking about it."

"I have been thinking about it." The curtness in his voice surprised her.

It occurred to her that she was supposed to be stopping it, so she probably should not have brought it up at all. "I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but Peter knows that you came to Europe to kill someone. I didn't tell him; he just ripped it out of my head. I don't know what he knows, so you should factor that into your plans."

He just nodded and took a big bite of bread. Something was going on with him that Elle did not understand. She could have asked, but she had a feeling he was not going to tell her, so she guessed instead. "You don't have to kill that woman if you don't want to."

"What?" It came out muffled because he still had bread in his mouth.

"If you'd really—If you'd rather kill Molly Walker, that's okay."

He swallowed. "No, you said not to, and--"

"But that was stupid. So what if she's a child? She'll grow up eventually, and then it won't matter. You might as well kill her now."

"No, I don't want to kill her. I've terrorized that girl so much, you can't even—If I'd killed her the first time, or the second time, but—I just—I—" He got a sad look in his eyes, remembering what he did, and Elle knew that she had guessed completely wrong. His hand turned blue and the piece of bread he was holding froze and broke into several pieces.

Elle had not really been keeping track, but she did not remember him getting that ability again. "Where did you learn to do that?"

Sylar looked down and pulled a shard of bread out of his hand. "From her father," he said, sounding confused.

--

--

**Author's Note:** The explanation for why Sylar got back the telekinesis when he lost everything else was that he felt great remorse after killing Brian Davis. So that thing above is not entirely unprecedented.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34:**

Elle looked at him with wide eyes. "That's from before? What does that mean?"

He had been mesmerized by the bread, but now he looked up. "Nothing. It doesn't mean anything."

"Gabriel..."

He wanted to tell her not to call him that. His name was Sylar, and all this Gabriel nonsense needed to stop. He knew it was far too late to say that though. "It doesn't mean anything except that I can freeze things."

"Is this the first time it's happened, or have you been reacquiring powers this whole time?"

It was the first time, and it was leaving Sylar confused. "I liked who I was before, Elle."

Elle took the non-sequitur in stride. "Okay, I've always liked who you were, and are."

"No, you've always wanted me to change. You did this to me." He gestured at the bread.

She stared at him for a few seconds. "If we're going to have a fight, maybe you should just get to the point."

He thought back to that dinner just a few days ago, when she told him that he was still Gabriel. He remember how appealing that had sounded at the time. The way that she made him feel was a problem. It had always been a problem. "The point is that I liked being Sylar, but you just waltzed into my motel room, and you changed me."

"I haven't done anything except love you. I sat by while you went out and murdered one the only real friend I ever had. I don't want to hear that you've changed, that I could have changed you, because that means that his death meant nothing. So don't change."

"You're working with Peter. That's the whole point, isn't it? To get me to change?"

He already knew that was the point, but the look on her face told him that she had just realized he was right. "I don't understand what you freezing bread has to do with any of this. You said it means nothing, but clearly it's affecting you. What does it mean?"

"It means I have goddamn empathy. It means that I feel bad about orphaning a stupid child."

"Oh." She paused, taking that in. "And that's my fault? Because I asked you not to kill her? You can kill her; I don't care. The only reason I took her name off the list was because I wanted you to know that I was taking it seriously. The only reason I took anyone off the list was because you told me to. You can kill whomever you want. I don't care. I don't want you to feel bad about it. I don't want you to change."

That was not a lie, which confused Sylar. "Then how do you see our future?"

She sighed. "I don't know."

"Because we don't have one."

A look of dawning comprehension spread over her face. "Are you breaking up with me? In Prague?"

He stood. He had not exactly thought this conversation through that far, but now he realized that he was. "I tried, Elle. I tried so hard to make this work."

She looked at the ceiling and gave a half laugh, half scoff. "No, you tried hard to find an excuse to get rid of me. And since I didn't make you freeze anything, it's a pretty lame excuse."

"You told me that when I start to feel this way, I should give you a choice between walking away and being killed. And--"

Elle shook her head a little and held up her hands to stop him. "Are threatening to kill me?"

That was not what he meant, but he decided not to tell her that. She was going to realize in the long run that it was better this way. She was better off without him. "I destroy people, everyone I've met. I've already done it to you once, and if you get pregnant--" He laughed at the thought. "--I'll just end up destroying the baby too. That's what I do. It's who I am, and it's not going to change."

Elle did not understand. She had nothing to do with his empathy, nothing to do with whatever change had just occurred. She was telling him that it was okay to kill Molly Walker, and he was the one who insisted that it was not. "What if I hadn't told you not to kill Molly? Wouldn't you have gone through the same thought process and ended up in exactly the same place?"

"I wouldn't have even thought about it. I never felt these things before you came back. And not just—I need to get back to who I was before Kirby Plaza."

He meant before Arthur and Angela started playing mind games with him. Elle did not think she should have to accept full responsibility for what happened to Sylar. Maybe she had asked him to change, after Peter got her all confused, but she had always been so careful to avoid having him resent her. Apparently, she had been unsuccessful, and she was tired of that now. "I don't think there is anything wrong with feeling things. And I don't see what is so bad about changing a little. It got you one of your powers back. If you could bring yourself to feel bad about killing the others, you might get your precious super-hearing back."

"No." He shook his head. "I can't do this."

"Okay, so you're never going to change? So I should just tell Peter that it's hopeless and he should just kill you now, because you will never stop killing?"

She was being sarcastic, but Sylar was very serious. "Yeah, you should do that."

He went to the door and opened it. Elle got up from the bed, surprised. "Where are going?"

He did not say anything; he just walked out. He was not even dressed, wearing only a bathrobe, but Elle supposed with his illusory abilities, it would not matter. She looked out into the hall, but he was not there. She had not even counted on the invisibility. She slammed the door.

–

When Sylar left, Elle had really expected that he would be back. They had two days left before their flight back to the States, and she really thought he just needed some time to cool off and then he would be back. She did not even know what had happened. She did not know why they were fighting. She was afraid that him not coming back meant that he really expected her to go to Peter and tell him to kill Sylar. She was not going to do that, though.

Waiting for him, she did not leave the room once until it was time to check out. She tried to watch the news to see if he killed that woman, but since she did not speak a word of Czech, she could not be sure there were no stories to that effect. She knew they probably would not have shown the body, so there was no way to really know. Upon checking out, the man at the front desk told her that Sylar had told them that he had to leave because of an emergency but to put everything on his credit card. It made Elle wish that she had ordered more expensive room service, but she knew it was not really his credit card anyway.

The first thing Elle did when she got back to New York was try to call his cell phone, but there was no answer. She was going to have to go into work the next day and give Peter a progress report, and she really wanted to talk to Sylar before she did so. She knew that if she could just get a hold of him, she would be able to smooth things over. She called him over and over, all night, to no avail.

–

Elle went straight to Peter's office as soon as she got to work in the morning. It was a Saturday, so she was not sure that he would be there, but she wanted to try. Her mind was clear, and she knew exactly what to say to him. She could wait if she had to, but she was ready now.

In the office, she found not Peter, but Nathan. That was not a conversation for which she was prepared. She tried to backtrack, but Nathan called her back into the office. "How was your trip?"

She did not know what she was supposed to say. "Good."

"Where'd you go?"

She wanted to be vague but truthful. "Europe."

Nathan nodded. "Where's Sylar?"

She was not sure what, if anything, Nathan was implying. It had been clear before that Peter did not want Nathan to know anything about his plan. "I don't know." That was actually true.

"Hmm." He nodded again. "So how many people did he kill while you were in Europe?"

"Um, I don't think he killed any."

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "You don't think? I'm just a little confused why the agent assigned to the Sylar case took a vacation while he's still out killing people."

Elle almost laughed with relief. She tried to play that off. "There are two agents on this case. If something happened, Noah could handle it. And he would have told me."

Nathan rubbed his forehead, as though he was deeply troubled by this development. It seemed put on to Elle. "You said you were motivated, Elle. And then a week later, you jetted off to Europe."

"We're stuck. There nothing to do on the Sylar case. And Peter okayed my vacation."

"Peter is not you boss," Nathan said in a way that made Elle think there was more going on here than just her vacation.

At that moment, Peter stuck his head in the doorway. Elle did not think that could have been a coincidence. "Did I hear my name? Oh, Elle." He made eye contact with her. "How was Prague?"

Her mind was no longer clear, and she did not feel as confident talk to him about that as she had before. Luckily, she would not have to go into too many details with Nathan there. "Fine. It was relaxing, uneventful."

He gave her a crooked smile, but it did not reach his eyes. "I would love to hear more about that later. Right now, my brother and I need to talk though."

Elle hurried out of there, glad to be dismissed. As she left, it occurred to her that the more time Peter spent around agents, the more powerful he became. By this point, there were probably very few things he could not do. She did not know if it was part of his plan, but she thought it was smart to leave the power play until he had reached his maximum potential.

–

On Elle's fourth day of calling him, Sylar's cell phone was answered by a woman speaking what Elle assumed was Czech. This either meant that he had discarded it somewhere or that he had taken up with another woman. Elle found the former more likely, but that did not make it any easier on her, because it still meant he was avoiding her calls.

After three weeks with no word from Sylar, Elle started to believe that he might have really been breaking up with her that day, and she still had no idea why. It made her angry. Considering the sacrifices she had made for him, she deserved more. She deserved to know what was really going on in his head. He said he loved her, that he wanted her in his future, and then he just walked out on her with barely an explanation.

By the time Peter came to her office, three weeks after she got back from Prague, Elle was furious with Sylar and more than a little bitter about the whole thing. That turned out to be a bad combination because when Peter asked her about Sylar, she decided to stop lying. "I haven't been entirely honest with you, Peter."

He looked surprised, not that she had not been honest, but that she was telling him about it. "About what?"

"Sylar. Things in Prague were a little more eventful than I let on because... we broke up." That was the first time she had said it out loud and it sounded even worse than it had in her head. It made it more real.

This was genuinely news to Peter. "You broke up? Why?"

She started to answer and then chuckled. "That's the question, isn't it? I don't know. He was just babbling some crap about not wanting to change and how he was never going to change and I should jut tell you to--" She stopped herself because she was not sure if she wanted to go that far.

Peter nodded. She could tell that he was trying to find a delicate way to have the rest of this conversation. "Do you think it's hopeless? Do you think it's time to scrap the plan and... go in a different direction?"

Elle thought about it. He threatened to kill her and their non-existent unborn child. She did not know whether he had meant that the way it sounded, but he had said it. Everything came rushing back to her, finding her father's body, that night on the beach, when she first saw him come out of a state of invisibility. He was a serial killer, and he needed to be stopped. It was her job to stop people like him, and that was all she had left. Once she made that resolve, she still had a lot of trouble getting the words out. "Yeah, I think it's time."

She tried not to cry, but she could not help herself. If she had to cry in front of anyone, Peter was probably the best person. He had been a hospice nurse; he was used to people crying. Still, she put her head down on the desk so that he would not actually see it.

He patted her on the back. After about a minute, he said, "I don't think he's killed anyone since you got back from Prague."

Elle raised her head and wiped away the tears. "You wouldn't know. He killed a man in Calgary, and no one ever knew." She could tell that Peter was going to say something else, but there was nothing to say. "You have to do it, Peter. He said he's never going to change. He said he doesn't want to change. You have to stop him before any more people die."


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Sylar thought it would get easier the more time he spent away from Elle, but it only got harder. This was not just because the dreams had returned in full force, although they had. It was simply difficult for him to imagine where his life was going without her. He had spent so much time avoiding the future, not thinking about it, not worrying about it. He thought that when Elle and all their chances at a future were gone, he would not think about it anymore. He thought he would be able to go back to living in the present. He was wrong.

He was not surprised that the horrible nightmares had come back. That was to be expected, even though they had gotten what they wanted. The point of them was to remind him of how much he had hurt her and to make him aware that he would only continue hurting her in the future. They were trying to make him understand that he needed to cut her loose before something worse happened, and he had. He knew that he had probably hurt her a lot by disappearing on her, but it was just one last time, and it would free her.

When he froze that piece of bread, it felt like a promise that he would never be able to deliver on. Up to that point, he had tried to make it clear to her that there was no chance of Peter's future happening. They were going on, trying something, but it was not going to be Peter's future. Once she saw the empathy, he knew it was going to be impossible to convince her of that. He decided a clean break would be best. They would be better apart, not trying to find a middle ground that neither of them wanted. Elle deserved that normal life, and she was going to find it as soon as she got over whatever she was feeling for him.

Sylar knew his motives in breaking up with her had not been entirely selfless. It was not solely because he thought it would be better for Elle. He had seen Peter's future, and he just could not imagine sacrificing that much of himself for her. He barely even recognized who he had become. Elle had not seen it, but she heard Peter's description. If that was the kind of man she wanted, that was not him.

–

_Night 113:_

About three weeks after leaving Elle, Sylar had a different sort of dream than usual.

He walked into her apartment and into her bedroom, finding her asleep in bed. He wanted to go to her, but there was something holding him back.

A voice came from behind him. "You shouldn't have come here."

Sylar turned around to find Peter standing in the doorway to the room. To Sylar, the scene felt slightly surreal, and his movements were sluggish. He did not know what to say to Peter.

Peter took a step forward, then raised his hand and threw Sylar against the opposite wall. There was a loud crash, but Elle did not stir. It occurred to Sylar that maybe she was not sleeping after all. "Is she okay?" he asked.

Peter gave her a cursory glance. "She's a heavy sleeper; you know that."

Sylar had to think about that. He had always known Elle to be a fairly moderate sleeper. What bothered him was Peter's apparent familiarity with her sleeping habits, inaccurate though he might be. He tried to get to his feet, but Peter held him in place.

"Why would you come here?" Peter asked. "You know that I'm not going to let you hurt them."

"Them?" Sylar looked over at Elle. It was now apparent that she was pregnant, although it had not been before.

When he looked back, Peter was approaching him with a sword that he must have pulled out of thin air. "Don't worry, I'll take really good care of them after you're gone. Maybe we'll even name the kid after you. Gabriel Petrelli, how does that sound?"

Sylar did not even try to stop him as Peter brought the sword across to decapitate him. Right before the blade hit his neck, Sylar woke up.

He sat up and subconsciously rubbed his neck. He could tell that the dream was not a literally precognitive one because it did not flow in a rational way, but he suspected that it revealed more of the future than he would like.

–

Elle was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing. She did not recognize the number in the display, which made her not want to answer it, but she did anyway. "Hello?" she said groggily.

"Are you pregnant?" asked the voice on the other side.

As tired as she was, it took Elle a while to decipher whose voice that was and what it was talking about. She became much more alert when she realized it was Sylar finally contacting her. "No."

Sylar breathed a sigh of relief as Elle did period math. She was alarmed to discover that she could not remember having her period since she came back from Europe. "Wait, maybe."

"How can you not know?"

Elle scrambled for her calender. "I never really kept track of these things. I'm sorry." She flipped through the pages. "Oh, god."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Elle wanted to remind him that this was his fault, remind him of all the times he had batted her hand away from the condoms, but she had other things on her mind. "I just told Peter to kill you earlier today."

"You actually..." He trailed off, blowing into the phone.

"What was I supposed to tell him? I waited, and you never contacted me." She thought about the disappearing act he had pulled. She remembered what he said in that fight before he left. She was not sure if her getting pregnant would change anything, and she was not going to ask, at least not directly. After what he said about destroying people, she knew what she needed to do. "I have to go. I'll call you back." She hung up quickly before he could inform her that she had just lied.

She immediately called Peter. "Where are you?"

There was a long pause. "It's five thirty in the morning. I'm at home."

Elle should have realized that. "Good. I need to talk to you before you … do anything today."

"What happened?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"I just realized that I'm probably pregnant." After all that talk of futures and babies, she did not know how that could have slipped her mind. She was so selfishly preoccupied with the break-up that she had not thought about anything else. "And I know I should have looked into that before telling you to kill Sylar, but... I didn't think of it."

Another long pause. "So now you think--"

"Now I don't know what to think. He kind of implied that he would kill the baby. And if that's true, then you need to kill him now more than ever. But maybe it does change things the way you hoped it would. You need to talk to him, because you can find out what he's going to do, how he feels about this. You can acquire that lie detection thing he does, and you can read his mind. I can't do any of that, and I can't be around him until I know what he's going to do."

Peter sighed. "Okay, I feel like you're getting ahead of yourself. The first thing we need to do is find out if you're really pregnant, and then we can talk about the rest of this."

Considering how late she was, Elle had no doubt that she was really pregnant. There was also something in Sylar's voice when he asked the question that made her think that he had reason to suspect that she was. Since he was a precog, and since it was the middle of the night, in the Americas anyway, she had a feeling his reasons were fairly reliable. Peter was right, though; it would not hurt to be sure.

–

An hour later, Elle showed up at Peter's door with a bag containing pregnancy tests. "I got three different brands, just to be sure."

He opened the door a little wider. Over the phone, he knew she was upset, but he did not realize she was upset enough to drive into the city at six in the morning. "This wasn't really what I had in mind when--"

She walked into the apartment. "Sylar already knows. He's the one who alerted me to the possibility. I can't wait any longer to find out what's going to happen. Where is your bathroom?"

He pointed to it, and she followed his directions. She was in there for a long time, but eventually she came out carrying three different sticks. "Yeah, I'm definitely pregnant."

Peter had no idea why she had to do that at his apartment. She could have done it at home and called him, and he would have believed her. He just wanted to be sure before she got any more frantic. He could tell that she was really worried about what Sylar was going to do, not that she was trying to hide it at all. This pregnancy was going to change things, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Peter could not help but feel that this whole mess was his fault, even though he never told her to get pregnant. "How did Sylar imply that he was going to kill the baby?"

"You're going to talk to him, right? Find out what he's thinking?"

"Yes. Elle, I'm not going to let him hurt you or your child. But I need to know what he said."

She sat down at his table, still holding the pregnancy tests. "He said that he destroys people and eventually he would destroy us."

That sounded really bad. Peter had not been looking forward to another showdown with Sylar. It was true that he had won the last time they faced off, but he thought Sylar had been taking it a little easy on him then, thinking they were brothers. "The man in Calgary, what could he do?"

Elle hesitated. During the pause, Peter realized that for her to tell him this would be a real betrayal of Sylar's trust. He was about to tell her that she did not have to answer that when she said, "That doesn't matter. Nothing he can do matters. All you have to do is spend five minutes with the Haitian, and he won't be able to do anything."

Working at the company, Peter had spent plenty of time around the Haitian already. "I can't get his ability if he's blocking mine."

"You could try. He's not constantly blocking abilities; it's a conscious choice. You've already been around him, right? Here." She shot sparks back and forth between her hands. "Try to stop my power."

Peter thought about the Haitian and concentrated on stopping the electricity. He had never before tried to evoke an ability that he did not think he had. The sparks became weaker, and he could see her putting more effort into it.

Elle put her hands down. "Well, that's a start. Now you talk to that Walker kid for a minute, and you'll be able to find him."

Peter had seen how much trouble the Haitian had blocking his father's ability. Sylar was at least as powerful, and Peter barely had the ability. He just reminded himself that he had beaten Sylar once without it. As for Molly Walker, Peter had never sought people out just to acquire their ability, but now he realized Elle was right. Seeking abilities was not going to make him like Sylar, because he did not hurt anyone when he did it. If it was okay with Matt, Mohinder, and Molly, there was nothing wrong with getting her ability.

He looked at the clock on the microwave. It was too early to go over there or even call. He held out his trashcan to Elle. "Go home. I'll talk to him."

She threw the tests away. "I can't go home! That's the first place he'd look for me."

Elle's fear seemed irrational to Peter until he remembered that this was Sylar they were talking about, a man who had already killed her once. Still, in the past she had always defended him and insisted that she wanted to be with him. He looked at her torso. Maybe this pregnancy was already changing things. He did not want to let her stay there, but he felt that he could not turn her out. He told himself it would just be for one day.

Elle spoke again, less agitated this time. "It was stupid, wasn't it?"

"What?"

She shook her head. "I did. I thought your plan was incredibly naïve, but it sounded so good. I don't know if I really expected him to ever stop killing, but... It was stupid to think that we could ever have future. That's what I wanted to believe. It was stupid to get involved with him again after he had already hurt me so much." She looked up at him. "He's a serial killer, Peter. I have my own problems, but I was never that bad. I just convinced myself it could work."

Again, Peter felt slightly responsible for that. "There's still a chance, Elle."

She looked exhausted, and she put her head down on the table. "No, I don't think so. I think all those people died for nothing. I think once you cut through the lies and get to the bottom of what he's feeling, you're going to see that there is nothing left but Sylar." She closed her eyes. "I think one of you is going to die today."

Peter helped her to her feet and led her to the couch. He went to the bed to get her a blanket, and she was asleep by the time he got back. He covered her and went to the kitchen to make himself coffee. It would still be a couple hours before he could do anything.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

When Elle did not call Sylar back, he headed for her apartment. Since he was not in New York, it took him a few hours to get there, and when he finally did, the apartment was empty. That did not particularly surprise him. On some level he had expected to find that she ran away, although he hated the thought that she might be that scared of him. He went into the bedroom to try to figure out the odds that she had actually gone into hiding. They seemed fairly low since it did not appear that she had packed up any of her clothes or toiletries.

He found her calender open on the bed, so he knew she had been at home when he called. He thought about where she might have gone. Even thought it was a Saturday, it occurred to Sylar that Elle might be at the company, working, and if that was the case, he was going to have to wait to talk to her. He certainly could not show his face there without causing a major incident. On the other hand, after just five minutes of waiting, he was starting to go crazy.

Sylar was relieved when he heard the front door open, but upon coming out of the bedroom, he found that it was not Elle at the door. He sighed. "Peter. Of course."

Peter walked into the living room, showing no concern about Sylar's abilities, which was a little annoying. It did not escape Sylar's memory that the last time they had really fought, Peter had put him in a coma. "Why would you come here?" Peter asked.

Despite the fact that he could not see any swords hiding in Peter's possession, Sylar got a wicked sense of deja vu, and he found himself getting a little worried about where this might be going. "I came to see Elle. She's pregnant, you know."

Peter nodded and narrowed his eyes at Sylar. After a few seconds, he jerked his head back a little. He chuckled and shook his head. "I keep forgetting that you think I'm trying to steal your girlfriend. Believe me, the last thing I want is to raise your child as my own."

Although Elle mentioned it a lot, Sylar had underestimated how irritating mind reading could be. He also noted that what Peter said was not a denial that he wanted Elle. "Did Elle send you to kill me?"

Peter leaned against the arm of the couch. "She wants me to talk to you."

Sylar did not know what he could possibly have to say to Peter. "Why can't I just talk to her? Where is she?"

"She's safe." Peter seemed to think about what he had just said. "She's on a plane to somewhere safe."

It tingled, and Sylar realized that Peter had lied purposely to get that ability. He felt that he had been outsmarted, but there was nothing he really could have done to stop Peter from lying. "What are we supposed to talk about?"

Peter looked around nonchalantly. "Elle wanted me to find out whether you're going to try to kill her again. This whole time she has insisted that she's not afraid of you, but she's lost faith, and she's scared now. You know, I could just kill you now and tell her whatever I want. She doesn't expect this to work anyway."

Sylar thought about the fact that Peter had put a whole plan into motion just so that he would not have to try to kill him. In theory, Peter wanted things to work out between Sylar and Elle. "Why would she be scared of me?"

"You threatened to kill her baby."

Sylar was shocked because Peter really believed that. "I never said anything like that."

Peter looked at him with narrowed eyes again. "How will I know when you're lying?"

Sylar had no intention of helping Peter use his ability against him. "Why would she tell you that?"

He thought about it. "She believes you said that. You threatened to... destroy it or something."

That did jog Sylar's memory, but he had to think about when he had said that. "Oh, that was... before."

"Before what?"

Sylar did not want to talk to Peter about this. He wanted to explain it to Elle directly, but that did not seem to be an option. "Before I killed her."

Peter made a face. "What was that?"

"That's how you'll know when I'm lying. So I have to convince you that I don't want to hurt her or the baby, and you'll run it through the lie detector, read my mind, and report back to her? Is that how this is going to work?"

"Probably," Peter replied noncommittally. "You might have to convince me of a few other things too."

Sylar sat on the couch. "We don't have to be enemies, you know."

Peter remained at his perch, looking down on Sylar. "We do if you're going to keep killing people. Especially if you're going to hurt Elle or the baby. I'm responsible for them. I put her in that position."

"You did not put her in that position. I wasn't an assignment to her." Sylar knew that there was something he could say to make Peter stop feeling responsible for Elle, to make him stop feeling anything for her. One little fact would cause Peter to cut her loose and force her to rely on Sylar for protection. "We were together before you came to the company. In fact, it was her idea to kill your mother."

Peter did not look as surprised by this news as Sylar had expected. Instead, he looked at most mildly interested. "Well, I didn't know that, but I did know that she was involved. It was pretty obvious that night. Her mind is like an open book. It's surprising because she tends to be a little stoic, but that just means that she's keeping everything on the inside, and it's constantly swirling around in her head. I also know that there was some plot to kill Nathan that seems to have been abandoned, which is good. Don't kill Nathan; you won't get away with it."

Sylar tried to hide his shock. "If you know all that, why did you keep her working at the company?"

Peter shrugged. "I guess I wanted to learn from my mother's mistakes."

Sylar did not know exactly what he meant by that. "How so?"

"I got to know Elle a little bit when I was locked up for four months."

"Right." Sylar did not really want to talk about that time since that was when Peter kissed her.

"So I got to see firsthand how crazy she is early on. Then she killed a friend of mine in Ireland. And I heard about what you guys did when you were working for my father. She's trouble, and it would have been a really bad idea to cut her loose and send her back to you. At the time, Noah was thinking about locking her up and rejecting the idea because if you broke her out, it would be worse than if he fired her. We needed to keep her close." Something occurred to Peter. "Just so you know, I was never using her to control you; I was just trying to control her. It was Noah who made the connection between your relationship and the future I saw."

All of this meant that Peter was still going to act as a gatekeeper between Sylar and Elle, even knowing her part in his mother's death. "Yeah, speaking of the future, that's what I meant when I said I would destroy the baby. I didn't mean directly. And I said that before she got—I guess she was already pregnant, but I said that before I knew she was pregnant. I was telling her that getting pregnant was a bad idea. I wasn't threatening anyone."

"You didn't do anything to your child in the future. You were great with him."

Sylar stopped himself from laughing at this. "Until he died and I blew up Costa Verde."

Peter cocked his head a little. "I—How did you know about that?"

"It doesn't matter. The point is that having a child is not going to fix all my problems. Your future didn't end so well for my family."

"But that was my fault. They were there for me. Your family was perfectly safe until I led them to your door. I got your son killed. And I know that hasn't happened yet, but... he was real." Peter paused, lost in thought. "I can't explain what it's like to go into the future, but when you're actually there, it is so much more real."

In the future, Sylar had not blamed Peter for the death of his son. It was not really Peter's fault anyway, but Sylar could understand why he would blame himself. Sylar was starting to understand Peter's motivations a little better. "Can I talk to Elle now?"

Peter snapped out of whatever good will he had been feeling for Sylar. "You still haven't convinced me of anything. This isn't just about Elle. If I let you walk out of this apartment, I need to know that you aren't going to start hunting people down again."

Even if that might be all it would take to be able to live his life with Elle and the baby, Sylar was not willing to tell Peter that he was going soft. It struck him as ironic, since Peter of all people would understand empathy and would not think him weak at all. _"Let_ me walk out of here?"

Peter pushed himself up from the arm of the couch. He flexed his hands a couple times. "I think we've already established who is the most powerful."

Sylar tried to throw him against the wall, but Peter only stumbled backwards a couple steps. "You should know," Peter said, "I've been around the Haitian."

Sylar looked down at his hands. That was not good. He remembered that the Haitian had only been able to hold off Arthur for a few minutes. Sylar had witnessed the conflict while waiting in the wings for the Haitian to go down, not wanting to strike while his own abilities were compromised. He tried to calculate what the Arthur/Haitian struggle would mean for him and Peter.

Peter nodded. "Yeah, we could fight. But why don't you tell me why you think you're going soft instead?"

"Okay, that's just annoying." Sylar figured that if he was going to have to do this, he might as well make it good. "It started when I—It started the night I told Elle that I loved her. I mean, yeah, I killed your mother after that, but that was personal. And I didn't even really think about killing anyone else. But then we started talking about the future, the one you saw and the one where I kill Nathan. It was all marriage and babies, and I had to get out of here. But when I got to South Carolina, it was different. It was harder to do than it use to be. And by Daytona... I haven't killed anyone since Daytona. I thought about it with a couple people, but I never even got close to doing it." He looked at Peter to see if any of this was landing. It seemed like it might be. "The hunger just isn't there the way it used to be. And then in Europe, I..." He conjured the freezing ability in his hand.

Sylar was a little surprised to see his hand turn blue, and he could tell that Peter was too. Peter started, and the hand quickly returned to it's normal color. Peter's lack of vigilance might work in Sylar's favor if it came to that. He decided to go on. "I got that from James Walker. I shouldn't have it after the Shanti Virus, but in Europe, it just came back. I think it was empathy. I felt so much regret about what I did to that family that I accessed my empathy." He took a deep breath, knowing that he needed to do this all the way. "After the first time I killed someone, I was so horrified that I tried to commit suicide. That was the telekinesis, and that's the only ability I got back when I was cured of the virus. I got Elle's ability through empathy too. I just felt so bad for her, how much pain she was in, what I'd done to her, and I just wanted to take the pain away. And I did. I'm not like you, Peter. I think it's really difficult for me to feel that for another person, but when I do, I have empathy."

Peter took a few steps and stopped, as though he wanted to pace but did not want to turn his back on Sylar. "So are you saying that you aren't going to kill any more people?"

Sylar shrugged. "Sure."

Peter shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "Apparently that's not what you're saying."

"I'm not making any promises, no. But what I'm saying is that I don't feel the urge to kill anymore, and I feel remorse when I do kill someone. I think that part of my life might be behind me, especially with a kid on the way. So was that good enough for you to let me walk out of here and talk to Elle?"

Peter came the rest of the way and sat next to Sylar on the couch. "There's something you should know about Elle."

Sylar had not expected Peter to say yes. He still had not said anything about not wanting to hurt Elle. "What?"

Peter hesitated, and Sylar could tell he was trying to choose his words carefully. "Yesterday, she told me to kill you, but she didn't mean it. She was really angry at you, and I thought her method of lashing out was a little extreme, but she didn't really want you to die. This morning when she told me I might have to kill you, knowing she was pregnant, she really meant it. She really wants me to kill you to stop you from hurting the baby."

Sylar was going to respond to this by saying that he was sure he would be able to smooth things over. She had forgiven him for a lot worse than what happened in Prague. He would have said this, but he could tell that there was more, so he waited for Peter to finish.

"She's started thinking of you as a serial killer, as someone who needs to be stopped, someone who could never change. She doesn't believe that you have a future together anymore. She's terrified, of you, of raising a child alone. She's in a very vulnerable place. So I think that you need to really take stock. If you don't think that you can do this, marriage and babies, then you don't need to talk to her; you need to walk away. If you go back to her, you need to be ready to make a real commitment to her and the baby."

It really grated on Sylar's nerves the way Peter was telling him how to deal with Elle. No matter what he said, Sylar could not shake this feeling that Peter was ready to step in if he was not willing to give Elle the life she deserved. "I understand why you would want to keep her with the company, but why are you so protective of the woman who had a part in killing your mother?"

Peter sighed like he was wondering the same thing. After a few seconds, he said. "It's like Noah says, she's been treated really badly in her life. And that's not an excuse. It does not justify anything that she's done, but she's just so needy and vulnerable, and when you see that side of her, it just... She's like one of those abused dogs that needs to be rescued. And yeah, they're going to bite you, but you still want to help them."

There it was, exactly what Sylar had suspected this entire time. Peter wanted to rescue Elle. "But if I take her in, that will absolve you of all your responsibility to her, right? You won't need to help her anymore."

"But if you hurt her again, it'll be worse. So just take some time, make sure you can do this. You only found out she was pregnant a few hours ago, and you've run away from that possibility a few times now. You killed her once. I think you should wait to talk to her until you know whether you're ready for this."

Sylar hated to admit to himself that Peter had a point. He had spent the month alternately wanting her to get pregnant and wanting her not to, and he had landed firmly on the side of wanting her not to get pregnant. He left her in Prague because he did not want to hurt her again, and rushing into this before he was sure would have that same effect. He realized that he had come to her apartment without even thinking of what he was going to say to her. He stood. "You're right."

Peter rose to his feet as well. "One more thing, if you kill anyone else, this unspoken truce we have is over. You're getting a free pass that you don't deserve because you kind of saved my life at Pinehearst and I believe all that stuff you said about going soft and empathy. Also, if I kill you, I will have to take in Elle. She's already—Um, she's already leaning on me, and she just found out she's pregnant. But if you kill anyone... Keep in mind that by then, I'll be better at the Haitian's ability, and I didn't even need it to beat you last time."

"Well, I was going easy on you because I thought we brothers."

Peter shrugged. "And I wasn't trying to kill you then. Besides, working at the company, I've come in contact with a lot of people. I know what you've acquired since, and I don't think any of that is particularly helpful in a fight. If you went invisible, I would still be able to see you. The illusion might be good, but that's about it."

Sylar remembered that the company had not known what Tracy Chobham could do, which seemed like it might be useful too. It took Sylar a second to realize that Peter should not know about his illusory power. "How did you find out about that?"

Peter started backing toward the door. "Elle told me about Calgary, but I had to call Noah to find out what that meant. He always suspected that you killed that man anyway."

Sylar knew what Peter was doing. He was trying to prove that he had the upper hand and make a point about how much Elle had lost faith in Sylar. As he watched Peter walk out the door without another word, leaving him alone in Elle's apartment, Sylar recognized that the part about Calgary had been more effective than not.

He hated the idea that he would never kill again. It was something that had already occurred to him in Prague and even before then, but it was different knowing that Peter would come after him with the Haitian's ability if he killed just one more person. Sylar had not felt any cravings for a while, and he did not particularly want to kill anyone right then, but the idea that he never would seemed daunting. He knew that he could not think of it like that or it would not work. He needed to approach it on a day to day basis.

He needed time to think about his future. Peter was right about that. So Sylar took one more look around Elle's apartment, and then he left too.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Elle woke up from her nap on Peter's couch. She got up to look for Peter, but she was able to quickly ascertain that he was not there. She felt awkward being alone in his apartment, but she tried to make the best of it since she had nowhere else to go.

She sat back on the couch and rubbed her stomach. For the first time, she really thought about the fact that there was a baby growing inside her. "I guess you've been in there for about a month now. This is all happening so fast. I'm not sure if I'm even ready to--" Elle stopped herself. She knew the fetus would not understand a word she was saying, but she did not want to tell it that she was not ready to be a mother, just in case. She never wanted to do anything that would make this child feel like it was unwanted.

Elle had not really thought through the implications of having a child because she had not expected to get pregnant the first month she tried. They had not even been trying really. She thought she would have more time to figure everything out. And she thought she would be doing that with Sylar, which was another thing. It never occurred to her that she might end up being a single mother. She had the self-awareness to understand that, even though she was twenty five, she had just barely learned how to take care of herself. Now there was a baby who was going to depend on her for everything. She forced herself to consider the option of not keeping the baby. She easily rejected abortion, and she knew that she would never be able to part with the child after it was born. She could not stand the idea of parting with it now, and she had only known about it for a few hours.

"Looks like it's just going to be you and me, kid. Because right now your Uncle Peter is out trying to kill your father." Elle said that without thinking, but it was strange that she would call Peter that when they were not even friends. "I don't know why I said that. He's not your uncle, at all." Now she was having an awkward conversation with a fetus who probably did not even have developed ears. She was sure that was only the first of many awkward conversations they would have, especially about the baby's father.

Elle decided to quit while she was behind, since she was really just talking to herself anyway. After a few minutes of silence, she thought about turning on the television. There was not much else to do since she had already gone through Peter's medicine cabinet while waiting on the pregnancy tests.

When Peter came home, she was three-quarters of the way into a rerun of "E.R." and sobbing. She had never cried over a television show before in her life, not that she had watched much television as a child, but the episode she happened to catch involved a baby hurt a household accident, and the chances of survival did not look good . Seeing Peter, she quickly turned off the show and wiped her nose. That was twice she had cried in front of him in as many days.

He looked weary, and Elle did not want to ask him where he had been. She did not want to know if he had killed Sylar. She would rather talk about anything else, so she said, "Do you think the electricity is bad for the baby? Because this morning I was doing it, and I didn't even think about that. Do you think I could have hurt it?"

Peter appeared to be thrown off by the question. He was probably expecting her to ask about Sylar. "I have no idea. But you should probably cut back, use it for self-defense only." He paused. "I talked to Sylar. I don't think he's going to hurt you."

The way he phrased that confused Elle. "Because he's dead?"

"No!" Peter sat next to her on the couch. "No, I didn't kill him. I just talked to him."

That was not what she expected to hear. "He said that he wasn't going to hurt me, and you just believed him?"

Peter thought about that. "I'm not sure whether he actually said it."

Elle looked down at her stomach. "We are definitely not calling him Uncle Peter."

He looked uncomfortable. "I read his mind, which is much more accurate than listening to what he says. Besides, I got the lie detecting ability you wanted me to. I did exactly what you told me to do."

"I told you to kill him!" Elle knew that her anger was coming from a place of fear. If Peter believed that Sylar would not hurt her, that should be good enough for her, but she felt that it was a mistake to let herself believe that there was any chance of a future there.

"What did he do in Prague to make you so scared of him? Because his side of the story is that he accessed his empathy and didn't kill anyone."

Elle felt like there must have been something else, but then she realized it was not just about what happened in Prague. "He did access his empathy, and then he insisted that he had no intention of ever changing and that getting the freezing back meant nothing. He told me that I had a choice between walking away and being killed. And that's the thing, Peter. He _killed_ me once. I forgave him, but... If it was just me, I might be willing to take the chance that he's never going to hurt me again, but there's more at risk now than just my life. If we were in a good place, I probably would not be thinking like this, but maybe that break-up was for the best."

Peter leaned back. "My main concern was the serial killer aspect. Now, I believe him when he says that the hunger isn't there the way it was before, and I believe that he thinks that part of his life is behind him. I believe that the last thing he would ever want to do is hurt you or his child. The rest of that, you need to discuss with him. He's, uh, he's decided to take some time to think about what he wants out of life with regard to you and the baby. I think you should do the same. Even if he comes back, you can still decide that you don't want him to be a part of your child's life. And if he doesn't respect that, then--" He sighed. "Then I'll help you keep him away from the baby. But the point is, you can go home now. It's safe."

"You _think,"_ Elle pointed out as she stood. She was glad to get out of there anyway because this whole thing with Peter was starting to get weird. He was her boss, nothing else. "What are we going to tell Nathan? I mean, I can't be working field assignments anymore. Electricity and the baby don't mix, remember?"

"We'll tell him the truth; you're pregnant. You got pregnant in Europe. It's not going to surprise him. He... He thinks you're promiscuous anyway."

She had trouble being offended by that because there were actually several different ways he could have reached that conclusion. She tried to remember if she had ever flirted with him, but no, the window of wanting to sleep with Nathan was very brief. "And if I--"

He got up from the couch. "If you get back together with Sylar, you'll both have to go into hiding. So I'll tell Nathan... something."

Elle was not sure what the power balance was between the Petrelli brothers anymore, so she was not sure whether it mattered what Nathan thought. Still, she had an idea about what Peter could tell him. "You should say that he did take me up on the offer to sleep with him. Weeks later, after South Carolina and Florida."

Peter shook his head. "But Sylar didn't like that story because it would be... rape," he finished reluctantly.

Elle had gotten used to Peter knowing things like that, and it normally would not have phased her at all. However, the way he said it alerted her to the fact that something was off. He did not seem to think that he should let her know that he knew that. She decided to worry about that later. "Say it wasn't like that at all. He made it clear that my life was not in danger. He was very insistent that I could say no, but I didn't. It was just so wrong on so many levels, and I'm so much of a whore that I couldn't resist that kind of hot, hateful, forbidden passion."

Even though they had never had hateful sex, Elle was getting turned on at the thought of it, and she knew that she needed to move on. "So I got pregnant, and I tried to hide it from him and lie, but when he did find out, I couldn't lie to him because of the--" She pointed to her head. "And he made some promises and I made the wrong choice. That's what you should tell Nathan. And about how I knew him before when he was just a mild-mannered watchmaker and—That's if I decide to run away with Sylar, which I might not."

Peter smiled. "Yeah, okay. That's a good story. I'm going to feed it to Noah because I think it'll sound better coming from him. _If_ you decide to go with Sylar."

Elle narrowed her eyes. She knew Peter was making fun of her, but it did not seem worth fighting about. She did not want to run away with Sylar. She wanted to believe that she would stand firm and do what was right for her child. She picked up her purse. "Thanks for everything, Peter. You've really gone above and beyond."

"I know." He sounded really serious when he said that. He walked past her to open the door. If it was anyone else, it would have seemed like he was trying to get rid of her, but with Peter it just seemed chivalrous.

After showing up at his door with pregnancy tests and crying over "E.R." on his couch, Elle was not really sure how to say good-bye to Peter. She held out her hand. "I guess I'll see you at the company on Monday."

Peter shook her hand awkwardly. "See you then."

–

A few nights later, there was a knock on Elle's door. Even though Sylar had never knocked before, she mentally prepared herself for his visit, telling herself to stay strong. Looking through the peephole, however, she saw that it was Noah standing there, not Sylar. As she opened the door, Elle was both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

Noah was carrying something, and he held it out to her. "I was in town, and I thought you might want this back."

It was Sylar's sweatshirt, the one she had been wearing the day she hitchhiked to the Bennet house. She took it from him. "I always just assumed that you burned this."

"No, Sandra washed it, and it's just been sitting in our laundry room ever since."

They stood there on opposite sides of the threshold in an uncomfortable silence. Elle tried to think of something to say. "Oh, did you want Claire's clothes back? I don't know exactly where they are, but I'm sure I could find them." She knew that was not why he had come to her apartment, but when Noah was nice to her, it made Elle uneasy. She turned around and headed into her bedroom.

She heard the front door close and Noah walk across the apartment. "That really isn't necessary," he called.

Elle found the track pants easily, but she could not even remember what shirt she had taken. She came out with a fake smile plastered on her face and handed Noah the pants. "Here. I'm going to have to get back to you on the shirt."

He set the pants down on the table. "That's fine. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I told you to get pregnant. I was using you again, and I shouldn't have done that."

Elle kept the smile on her face. She did not know how she was supposed to respond to that. "Okay."

Noah sighed. "Come on, Elle, I'm really trying here."

She realized that if he was trying, she should try too. "You don't have anything to apologize for. I'm glad I'm pregnant. If it didn't happen now, it might have never happened. And it might not be ideal, but at least I loved the father, and this child wasn't conceived in some kind of..." She did not want to say the phrase booty call to Noah. "Um, some kind of casual hookup with a man who didn't respect me at all. I'm going to have a family again, Noah, someone in my life who has to love me unconditionally. And you telling me to get pregnant had nothing to do with it." She thought about how far she should go with this. She did not really want to get into the intricacies of when they used protection. She decided to leave it at, "We just did what we were going to do anyway."

"It's just that I made a promise to--"

Elle held up her hand to stop him. "You know what, Noah? You're not my father or my boyfriend. It's okay if you use me and throw me away. I never expected anything else from you. You don't like me. You don't have to pretend like you do just because no one else does either."

"I'm not your father, but I am a father. And Claire's not that much younger than you. I look at you, and I see all my fears about what she could have become." He shook his head. "That's not the point I was trying to make."

"Yeah, well, feel free to use me as a cautionary tale anyway. I'm an unwed mother now. You might want to warn her against that. 'Don't fall for the first serial killer to murder you.' Although that was probably Sylar." Elle wanted to get serious before Noah said anything else. "Thank you for bringing me the sweatshirt. It was a nice gesture. You don't have to do anything else."

"When you were a child, I should have--"

"It wasn't your place to do anything. I had a father, and he... was raising me the way he thought was appropriate." She paused, and then she said what she was really thinking. "Please leave, Noah. I don't want to be friends with you. I don't want our professional relationship to change at all. I'm used to the way things were. I like things the way they were between us."

Noah nodded, and he started for the door. Before he got all the way, he turned around. "It's just that you named your son after me in the future, and I can't imagine what I did to deserve that."

Elle followed him to the door. "It was probably a biblical reference, Noah. You know, starting over with a clean slate. And we couldn't use Adam because I lost my virginity to an Adam. So don't put too much thought into it."

Elle knew that she could never use the name Noah without thinking of Bennet. She had known him almost her entire life. If she was the mother in that future, choosing to name her son Noah meant something. This Noah seemed satisfied with her answer though. "Are you going to be okay on your own?"

She understood that he was really asking her if she was going to be okay raising the child alone. He seemed to be making the opposite assumption than the one Peter was making, but that might have had to do with the fact that she referred to herself as a single mother. "Yeah, I've brought lots of books, and I'm going to figure it out."

He nodded again, giving Elle the impression that he wanted to believe that was true but didn't. Then he bade her goodnight and left the apartment.

As she walked past the dining area, Elle noticed that Noah had left the track pants behind. She picked them up to put them back in her drawer. She hoped Claire was not overly fond of them because she had just lost her one chance at getting them back. Elle was going to need loose-fitting pants soon anyway.

–

–

**Author's Note:** The great thing about E.R. is that you can just assume there was an episode like that without having a specific one in mind. (And it's an NBC show! Cross promotion!) And I don't think Sylar ever actually _killed_ Claire, but he's really the only serial killer she knows.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

_Night 131:_

Peter had been so confident Sylar would come back for Elle that he made her believe it too. She took his advice and tried to figure out what she wanted out of the future with regard to Sylar and the baby. She was not sure whether it would make things better or worse for her if he did show up, but after two weeks, as she gave up hope that he was coming, she realized that no matter what she decided, she wanted him to come back and try to make things right.

When she thought about it objectively, it seemed to her that Peter was completely overlooking that Sylar had broken up with her. He went three weeks without calling her. It was over. Then he found out she was pregnant, and he went another two weeks, and counting, without a word. That was her answer. The rest of it, about whether he was dangerous and whether she wanted him in her child's life, was moot.

Elle wished she knew what Peter had said to him. She wondered if it was a mistake not to talk to him directly. If there was any chance that he was going to hurt the baby, then, of course, it was the right choice. Looking back on it, however, Elle was not sure there was any rational basis for thinking he might do anything like that. He had never expressed much interest in having children, and she could understand why he might feel completely unprepared for it psychologically. He did see it as something that would force him to change, and the one thing that was clear in Prague was that he did not want to feel any pressure to change. But none of that really meant that he was so violently opposed to having a child that he would kill one to prevent it from happening when he could just as easily cut both of them out of his life. Although, what kind of mother would she be if she was willing to take that kind of risk with her child's life before it was even born?

There was also the possibility that he might kill her without really thinking or caring about what implications that would have for the baby. She could not think of any reason why he would want to do that, but she still was not a hundred percent sure why he killed her the last time. When she asked, in Prague, if he was threatening to kill her, he did not say no. That was enough to leave her worried.

It took two weeks, but Elle became convinced that Sylar was not coming back, and that was the hardest thing of all. Because deep down, she still needed to feel wanted, and Sylar was the one person she thought she could count on for that. It was childish, and with a baby on the way, she needed to start being an adult, but it hurt all the same. She told herself that it should make it easier since he had taken all those hard decisions out of her hands. She told herself to be grateful. It just was not as easy as that.

So when on a fairly mundane Tuesday night, she heard the sound of someone in the apartment with her, Elle's first emotion was gratification. It was followed quickly by apprehension, but at least he had shown up. There was only one person who both could and would enter her apartment without using the door. She did not even bother to turn around; she just kept scooping out dessert. "If you're going to kill me, will you at least let me eat my ice cream first?"

There was a long pause. For a second, she was afraid that she had guessed wrong, but then she heard, "Sure," in a voice that was unmistakably Sylar's. He looked over her shoulder into the bowl. "That's a lot of ice cream."

She realized he was right and shoved the lid back onto the carton. "It's not for me; it's for the baby."

He was standing right behind her, so Elle had to maneuver a little to be able to get to the freezer without bumping into him. Although, she had never made a firm decision, she was leaning toward the determination that getting back together with Sylar would be a bad idea, and she felt that, if she wanted to be strong on that point, making physical contact with him just then would be counterproductive. Of course, he had not yet given her any reason to think that he wanted to get back together, so she might be getting ahead of herself. She placed what was left of the ice cream in the freezer and went back for her bowl. He was looking at it with a hint of a smile on his face. "I don't think the baby can eat that much ice cream."

Elle ignored this and carried her ice cream into the dining alcove. She sat at the table and took a bite. It tasted so good that she did not even care if he was judging her. "So did you come here to destroy the baby?" she asked innocently.

Sylar wandered over to where she was. "That wasn't a threat, Elle."

"No, it was a _fact_."

"It was a fear. You do understand that we're both damaged, right? We've both killed people for sport. And now we're having a baby. That is going to be one messed up kid."

Elle contemplated this as she ate more ice cream. Sylar was supposed to be the one who could see the future, so she was not sure if that was intended as a fact or another fear. If it was merely a fear, it was one she shared. She had some concerns that that the dynamics of their relationship would not create a healthy environment in which to raise a child, and as far as she could tell, that was strongest reason for them to stay apart. "My child is not going to be messed up; it's going to be perfect. If you don't think you can handle being a parent, feel free to walk away." She stopped herself from adding something about how he was good at that.

Sylar was quiet, and she could tell that he was thinking about what she had said. She needed to think about it too, because she was not certain that it was as forceful as it should have been. She tried to remind herself that, while she wanted him to want her, she did not want him to stay. She started eating more quickly to stuff down the troubling doubts she was having about that. After about a minute of this, she put down the spoon. "I think I'm going to throw up."

Sylar's face broke out into a full smile, which Elle thought was a strange reaction. "I told you he couldn't eat that much ice cream."

The way he said that had a profound effect on Elle. Maybe she was over thinking it, but it seemed like he was claiming to be better in tune with what the baby wanted than she was. It seemed that he was expressing a real connection to this child. Just the use of a gender specific pronoun was telling. She was still referring to the baby as an it. Without thinking about what she was doing, Elle picked up her spoon and dug in to get herself more ice cream.

Sylar pulled the bowl away before she could. "You don't have to keep eating that. I'm not going to kill you."

Elle was glad he thought that was why she was doing it. It was much better than him knowing that she really just wanted to eat more ice cream, even though it was making her sick. She handed him the spoon. "You can finish it if you want." He looked at the bowl like he did not think that would be appropriate, so she added, "Really. I don't want to waste it."

He sat across from her and ate some of the ice cream with a slight hesitation. "I don't want you to think that I'm only here because you're pregnant."

Elle raised her eyebrows. That had not occurred to her until that moment. He obviously felt connected to the child, and he had broken up with her. "But you are."

"No, I would have been back eventually. You know I love you."

If he thought that was enough to win her over, he was mistaken. "I know you say that. But I also know that you left me alone in Europe, and I know that you tried to kill me a couple times."

Sylar was really getting into the ice cream, and he was looking at the bowl when he said. "Well, you would have killed me first, but I just wouldn't die." Since he was not looking at her, Elle allowed herself to smile at that. He raised his head. "I just don't understand. After I killed you, I couldn't get rid of you, and now you're telling Peter to kill me because of some spat we had in Prague? Considering our history, you had to know that we were going to have some rocky moments. I feel like you overreacted. If you can forgive me for killing you, why can't you forgive me for leaving you in Prague?"

Elle had so many answers to that, she did not even know where to start. "You told me to tell Peter to kill you, remember? And I'm not going to forgive you when you've never once asked me to. I'm not even--"

He cut her off. "Will you forgive me for leaving you in Prague?"

He was completely missing the issue. "This isn't a question of forgiveness. You said you don't want to change. And that's fine; you don't have to, but I am not having my child raised by a serial killer. You also threatened to kill me, which is not good for the baby."

He hissed. "I never threatened to kill you."

She thought about refuting that, but there was always the possibility that he had not meant it the way it sounded. "There have always been veiled threats, including just now when you waited ten minutes before telling me you weren't going to kill me. And if it was just me, I could handle that. Since coming back to life, I have never really been scared of you. In fact, I seem to remember being surprisingly okay with the idea that you might choke me from time to time. But that was when the baby was a hypothetical. It's different now. I have a family to think about now."

"Yeah, my family. That's my child you're carrying."

Elle was not sure what that had to do with anything. "What if I told you that it wasn't? Would that make it easier to walk away?"

Sylar narrowed his eyes at her and did not say anything for a few moments. "If you told me I wasn't the father, I would know you were lying. But if I wasn't..., I think that would make it easier to stay actually. Then I wouldn't have to worry about screwing up the kid. Because if it's not mine, who cares?"

She was thrown off by this response. "I would."

"Yeah, but..." Sylar shrugged.

Elle did not know what to make of his claim that he would have no trouble helping her raise someone else's child. She wanted to separate herself from the conversation, and she saw that he had finished the ice cream. She took the bowl from him and went into the kitchen. Even though she had a dishwasher, she started washing it by hand because she wanted to keep herself busy and not thinking about about any of the stuff that had just been said at the table. Once she had decided that he was only there because of the baby, it became easier for her to hold off her feelings for him, but that thing about raising another man's child, if true, meant he was really there for her, and that complicated things again.

Sylar came in licking the last bit of ice cream off the spoon and tossed it into the sink. Elle turned around and crossed her arms before she realized that her hands were wet and soapy. She quickly wiped them on her pants and recrossed her arms. "You know, I could call Peter, and he'd be here in an instant to throw you out."

"Mmm, I don't think so. I talked to Peter, and he wants us to get back together. Because if we don't, he's going to end up having to take care of you, and that's the last thing he wants."

Elle resented the idea that she needed someone to take care of her, and, far more than that, she resented the Sylar and Peter had apparently talked about it. She really wished she had just talked to Sylar herself. "Oh, so did you lose the coin toss?"

Sylar chuckled. "Not exactly."

She uncrossed her arms and braced herself against the sink behind her. "I guess you're not afraid he's trying to steal me away from you anymore. That's good."

"You don't sound like you actually mean that."

This accusation forced her to reexamine how she felt about it. "You're going to realize soon that I'm a pain in the ass and that nobody really wants me. Maybe I kind of liked it when you thought someone might."

He came a few steps closer to her, pinning her against the sink. "You always say things like that, like it doesn't count for anything that I want you."

"You left me! And you only came back because you found out I was pregnant. Two and a half weeks ago!"

He sighed. "Okay, you're right. We should talk about that. I need to explain what happened in Prague."

Elle wanted to tell him that she did not need him to explain because she had been there, but she was curious what he was going to say. Up to this point, he had not done much to make things better. Even when he asked for forgiveness, he had not actually said that he was sorry. So she decided to hear him out, just a little bit. "Wait, I want to be sitting for this."

She slid past him, making minimal contact, and went into the living room to sit on the couch. He sat next to her and prepared to state his case, but before he could, she said, "Just remember, I was there. So I'll know if you're rewriting history."

He basically ignored that, which probably meant that he did not intend to rewrite history. "Did Peter tell you what I told him?

Elle had to think about that. Her first thought was that he must have, but she could not remember him giving her any specifics. "I don't think so."

"Okay, that's good because I want you to hear it from me." He paused. "Do you remember when I came to see you at the company and asked for Claude's address?"

Elle nodded, already feeling that it was a mistake to let him start talking. He had not even said anything yet, and she could feel herself getting sucked in. She could feel how much she wanted him to say something that would fix everything from before, and that was the wrong approach to be taking.

"God, I wanted that ability so much. That was really the only time since the eclipse I felt the hunger so strongly. It was overpowering everything else; all I cared about was getting his invisibility. Looking back on it, I'm surprised that I didn't hurt you when you refused to tell me where to find him. That was an achievement in itself because normally, I wouldn't let someone get in the way of me getting what I wanted. But I didn't even threaten you. I wasn't even mad." He sounded really proud of himself. "The real turning point, though, was when I came back and you forgave me. You were waiting for me, you had a speech prepared, and you refused to let me leave you. If you remember, that was the night--"

"I remember." That was the night a man told her that he loved her for the first time in her life. She did not need him to go over what happened; it would just make it more difficult for her to turn him away in the end.

"Right." He gave her a rueful smile. "That same night, I also warned you I would hurt you if you gave me a chance. You should keep that in mind. After that night, acquiring abilities was no longer in the forefront of my mind. I stayed in New York longer than I should have, just to be close to you."

Elle felt that this was one of those moments where he needed her to keep him on track. "And then you ran away when I started talking about the future."

Sylar nodded. "And then I ran away, so let's skip ahead to Prague."

He did not go on, which Elle found strange. "You had two weeks to think about this. You don't have anything prepared?"

"No, I do. I'm just wondering if I have to actually say it. And I do, so... This is really difficult for me to admit." There was a long pause. "I can't bring myself to kill people anymore."

As he was speaking, Elle had started leaning forward, literally sucked in as though his words were a tractor beam. When the revelation finally happened, she lost her breath for a second. She tried not to react, but it was just lingering in the air. "And?"

"And so all that stuff about how I was never going to change... I knew that I'd already changed. And with the frozen hand... There was a lot going on, and I was not prepared to deal with it."

That might have been good enough for Elle if she was not pregnant. Probably just him showing up would have been good enough, but not anymore. "You can work on that though. With a little work, I'm sure you could find your way back to who you were on Kirby Plaza. You just have to cut off all your--" She stopped herself because he needed to cut off all his emotions and ties to humanity, and that was why he might hurt the baby. That was a reason to kill her. She did not want to give him any ideas.

He waited for her to finish, but when it became apparent that she was not going to, he responded to what she had said. "No, Peter said my free pass is up if I kill anyone else. Normally, that wouldn't scare me, but he's been hanging out with the Haitian. So between that and becoming a father, I think it's a good time to go with this change."

"All right." Elle stood. "Not good enough, but thank you for coming by. You can leave now."

Sylar clenched his jaw for a moment, but then he shook it off. "Okay, I'll leave, but can I just say something to the baby first?"

Elle had not expected it to be so easy to get rid of him. She sat back on the couch and slouched so that her stomach was more easily accessible. "Keep it short, and no touching."

He looked amazed by her stomach. "You know, I've seen a lot of inexplicable things in my life. I done a lot of inexplicable things. And I know that there is a perfectly valid, scientific explanation for how you have another living person inside of you, but that seems far more incredible than anything else."

Having gone through a similar revelation a couple weeks before, Elle understood where he was coming from, but she did not want to encourage him. "Just get on with it."

He leaned down so that he was close to where the baby was. "Hi. I'm your father. Now, your mother is a little mad at me right now, and I understand why. But we love each other, and I'm going to fix this. So don't worry, because we are going to be a family, and you and I are going to have plenty of time to get to know each other."

He was making it so difficult for her to hate him. "It can't understand a word you're saying."

Sylar stood. "That's okay. I just wanted the baby to get used to the sound of my voice. The words were mostly for your benefit." He headed for the door. "I'll be back tomorrow night. If you really want to get rid of me, you'll have Peter here." With that, he left.

Elle was still reclining on the couch, a little disoriented. She put her hands over her belly. "So that was your father. What do we think of him?" Elle had no feelings of nausea, and that was pretty much the most positive response she could expect from the baby at this point.

She had not realized it, but Sylar had really gotten into her head. Without overburdening her with a lot of sappy sentiment or making any kind of grand, romantic gesture, neither of which she expected from him anyway, he had made her feel wanted and loved. This child was the most important thing in her life right then, but she had always needed what Sylar was giving her. Once he was gone, Elle knew that, without doing or saying much of anything, he had almost managed to talk his way back into her life. She was not going to make it easy on him though.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Elle did not sleep much that night. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind kept racing, and she spent the night tossing and turning, thinking about what was going to happen the next night. She had one day to make a decision that she had not been able to make over the last two weeks.

When she really thought about it, everything came down to one question. What would be in the best interest of the baby? If it was just up to Elle, Sylar would probably still be there and she would not be able to sleep for another reason. So the only thing she really needed to know was if Sylar was capable of being a good father, not just in that apocalyptic future that could never happen, but in real life. Since it was not an answer she could get on her own, she knew what she needed to do.

–

As soon as she got to the company in the morning, Elle looked for Peter, but he was not there. She called him and got sent straight to voicemail. She was frustrated as she left him a message explaining that she needed to talk to him because Sylar was back. She let him know that time was of the essence.

About an hour later, Peter showed up at her office. "What happened?"

Elle turned away from the research she had been doing. "He just showed up and said some things about how he had to change anyway because of you, so he might as well be in the baby's life." She paused. "That's a somewhat unfavorable account of what he said, but you get the gist of it."

He shrugged. "Okay, so what did you decide?"

"I haven't decided anything! That's why I called you. I need you to tell me what to do."

Peter laughed incredulously. "I can't tell you what to do. You're the only one who knows what's right for you."

Elle got a little worked up and gestured wildly with her hands. "No, I'm not. I don't know what's right at all. But _you,_ you can see the future. So you could just see it now, paint me a picture or something."

He shook his head. "It doesn't work that way."

Elle had known enough precogs to know that they did not have control over what they saw. She just hoped that Peter would be different. She took a deep breath and tried to be rational. "He's coming back tonight, and I need to know... I need to at least know how I'm going to decide, what test he needs to pass. I have some ideas, but I was hoping you could... What do you think are the critical factors?"

Peter was quiet for a while. Elle suspected that he was searching through her brain, which was useless because she already knew what was in there. Finally, Peter said, "Trust. All you really need to know is if you can trust him. You want to know that he's going to stay this time, that he's really going to commit to changing, to having a family."

Even though he really had just read her mind, it was still helpful. He had managed to synthesize everything into one salient point. "So how do I find that out?"

He held up his hands. "No. Talk to him about that. You can't keep putting me in the middle of your relationship. I'm not comfortable with that. Either you trust him or you don't. Nothing I say should change that."

Elle sighed. She was not entirely comfortable putting Peter in the middle either. "Fine. It's just that I thought hearing the opinion of a neutral third party might help. But I understand, and you're right. I need to make this decision alone."

Peter smiled and left the office. Elle checked to make sure he was really gone, and then she pulled out her cell phone and called Noah. Without greeting him, she asked, "What makes a good father?"

He groaned. "Oh, god, Sylar's back, isn't he? Don't let that man anywhere near your child."

That was more along the lines of what Elle had been looking for, a definitive statement of what she should do. It was not the answer she wanted though. "Okay, thanks. I have to get back to work."

"I hope you listen to me."

Elle hung up the phone and turned back to her computer. Since Peter could not give her any insight into the future and Noah refused to give her any criteria to test against, she was forced to go back to her initial plan.

–

When Elle got home from work, Sylar was already there. Although it would not have made a difference, she thought she had more time. She set her keys and her purse on the counter.

Sylar got up from where he was sitting in the living room to greet her. "No Peter?" he asked.

"No, but he knows you're here, so don't try anything." She had no idea what anything she was referring to.

Sylar raised his eyebrows in a question, but he did not ask about that. "I looked through your kitchen and noticed that you didn't have any food. So I bought some groceries."

This surprised Elle. "What?"

"You know how you have your thing about not wanting the baby to be raised by a serial killer. Well, my thing is that I want you to eat real food while you're pregnant."

She had trouble picturing him being that domestic, but she remembered that he had cooked for her before. It was just a little bit more Gabriel than Sylar. "I had real food."

"Yeah, pizza on a bagel doesn't count."

Elle went into the kitchen to see what he had bought. She did not want to tell him this, but if it was much more complicated than pizza on a bagel, she was not going to be able to handle it.

"I wasn't sure about your cooking level, so it's mostly frozen food and boxed dinners."

She opened her freezer, and sure enough, it was packed with frozen dinners. This annoyed her because he was making it so hard to turn him away. She pulled one of the meals out. "I don't like mushrooms," she said, mostly to be contrary.

"It's not mushrooms; it's chicken marsala."

"Which has mushrooms in it." She pointed to the picture on the box.

He looked from the box to her face. "The baby likes mushrooms."

She could not even refute that because for all she knew he might have had a dream where the kid was popping mushrooms like they were candy. She put the chicken marsala back in the freezer and went for her purse. She pulled out a manila folder containing all the research she had done. "Here, this is everything anyone knows about Dale Smither. Get the superhearing back, and I'll let you be in the baby's life."

Sylar took the folder and carried it into the living room. "Have you found out anything about my parents yet?"

Elle grimaced, but he had his back to her so he did not see that. She did not know why it was so hard for her to remember that. "This isn't about helping you. It's about you proving yourself to me."

Sylar sat on the couch and started reading. There was a lot of information there, newspaper articles, medical records, even a transcript of Elle's phone conversation with Mohinder. She was not sure what she was going to do while he was going over it.

She opened her pantry to see what else he had bought her, and she realized he was right. While the popcorn, pretzels, and cereal bars had been there since before, anything that could be considered real food was a recent addition. She wanted to tell Sylar that was because she had eaten everything, not because she did not buy it, but he was still reading.

Elle's phone started to ring, so she dug through her purse to find it, glad to have something to do. It was Peter, which was strange because he was so adamant about not getting involved. She answered the phone hoping that had changed. "Hi, do you have any new ideas?"

"No, this isn't about that. Nathan is on his way to your apartment right now."

"What? Why?" Sylar looked up, and Elle held up her index finger for him to wait.

"He has some questions about your pregnancy. But the reason I'm calling is..." There was a long pause. "Please don't let Sylar kill him. He's all I have left."

The rawness of emotion in this request moved Elle, which in turn made her uncomfortable. "Okay, I'll pass that along. Don't worry."

After she hung up, Sylar asked, "What was that about?"

"Um..." Elle looked at her phone. "Nathan's coming over, and Peter asks that you don't kill him. I don't know if he's going to say something that'll make you want to, but... just don't."

Sylar thought about it. "Yeah, okay. When is he--"

There was a knock on the door. Elle turned to look at it, and then she glanced back at Sylar, but he was gone. As she went to answer the door, she wished Peter had been more specific. She took a deep breath and looked through the peephole before opening the door. "Nathan. This is... unexpected."

Nathan leaned against the door jamb. "I've been wanting to talk to you, but I wasn't able to get away from Washington because of the stimulus bills."

"So a Wednesday night was the best time for you?" Elle did not know exactly how the Senate worked but that seemed off to her.

"Yeah, well, I was all caught up on my homework so to speak. Can I come in?"

Elle made a humming noise. "I feel like I should say no, but what the hell?" She stood aside to let him enter. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

Nathan strode into the apartment and unbuttoned his suit jacket. "The story about how you got pregnant in Europe always seemed a little off to me, and I think I figured out why that is."

Elle really was not that concerned about Nathan figuring things out. "Why?"

When Nathan went to sit on the couch, Elle was a little worried about him running to Sylar. Sylar could phase, so Nathan would not feel anything, but it would still be awkward. "It's that vacation you took with next to no notice."

Elle did not know where he was going with that. "Look, Peter--"

Nathan interrupted her. "Yes, Peter authorized it. That's the thing, because I remember when my mother died, you were pushing for Peter to take over. And Noah listened to your opinion because you were more familiar with company politics. As a politician myself, I started thinking about what you might want from Peter. And now you're getting preferential treatment, and he's speaking to me on your behalf. So I'm just going to ask. Is Peter the father of your baby?"

Elle burst out laughing. "No. Oh, that would have been great. I push him to take over the company, trap him with a baby, and become the power behind the throne. It's too bad it didn't work out that way. I did think that Peter would be easy to manage, but _that_ was never my plan."

"So you're telling me that Peter just let you go to Europe, you slept with a man whose name you can't remember, and now you can't do your job because you're pregnant? You expect me to believe that's all there is to the story?"

Elle hesitated. "There's a little more to the story. We are lying about what happened, but it's not Peter's baby."

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "So why are you lying?"

Elle looked at the ceiling. "I slept with Sylar," she said in a low tone.

Nathan looked stunned. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I slept with Sylar." She said it more clearly this time. "He's the father, but he can't know because... he can't know."

"You—Wh--" Nathan gave a shellshocked laugh. "Why would you sleep with Sylar?"

Elle realized the weight of telling this to Nathan. This was the story to be used if she intended to run away with Sylar. The fact that she was pulling it out now meant that she had pretty much made her decision. She thought it was probably the grocery shopping that had done it. "Okay, that is a valid question. You remember how I told you that the night he killed your mother, I offered to sleep with him if he would spare my life?"

Nathan nodded.

"Well, it turns out he wasn't so much 'amused,' as Noah put it, but intrigued. He was just concerned that if I was trying to save my life it wouldn't be entirely consensual. Then a while back, sometime after I got back from Daytona, he showed up here and asked me if the offer was still good. And... Well, I said if it would save my life, yes, and that's when he said the thing about wanting to know it was truly consensual." She stopped and let him see that she was groping for an explanation. "Here's the part you might not understand. I've never been good enough for anyone in my entire life. I was a constant disappointment to my father. And now when a man wants to have sex with me, I have trouble saying no. I, uh, I just like it better when men like me, even if its a man like Sylar. So I had sex with him." She tried to sound ashamed when she said that. "I'm not proud of it. He killed my father and all those other people. And he tried to kill me a couple times. But the fact that it was so wrong made it... so good."

"That still doesn't explain why you went to Europe."

It was awkward to say these things when she was pretty sure Sylar was still there. She buried her head in her hands. "The next day I was so upset with myself. I told Peter about what I'd done and that I just needed to get away. And he was really understanding about the whole thing. He told me I could have a week off. Of course, we didn't know I was pregnant then."

Nathan was still absorbing this. "You were supposed to kill him, and you slept with him instead. I don't want to be sexist, but--"

Elle laughed cruelly. "Okay, if you want him dead so bad, why don't you kill him? All it would take is a bullet to the back of the head. Of course, he can stop bullets in midair, and then he'll kill you. But feel free to try it. I thought about killing him that night, but we had a kind of truce, and if I broke it, I would have ended up being the one to die. I told him I was supposed to kill him." She laughed a little as though that was a real memory. "He didn't seem that scared."

Nathan eyed her stomach. "What would happen if we told him you're pregnant?"

Elle put her hands protectively over her stomach. "We are not using my baby as bait! You're a parent. How would you feel putting Monty or Simon in that position? Hell, they'll probably manifest soon. I'm sure they'd make excellent bait."

Elle could see that this hit Nathan harder than she expected. It was a little unfair of her to think that he did not care about his sons. "The difference is that he wouldn't kill you."

"Probably. And that's a risk I'm not willing to take." Elle feigned growing pensive. "I don't know how he'd react. I don't really see him as the fatherly type." She looked Nathan in the eye. "He got what he wanted from me. There's no reason for him not to kill me now."

Nathan was silent for a long time. Elle wished he would just leave, but he sat there, thinking. "So Sylar's the father, but you're still going to parlay that into getting Peter, aren't you?"

That was the most complicated question he had asked yet, and Elle really had to consider how to answer. "I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah. I mean he'd be a great father, and he's a really nice guy. I'm sure you're going to warn him away from me, but if I could get Peter, that would work out really well. Or what about you? I know you have a thing for damaged, young blondes who need to be rescued. That's how Claire was born."

Nathan did not take this seriously. He got up from the couch. "I found out what I wanted to know. I need to get back to Washington."

Elle led him to the door and saw him out. "Fly safe." After he left, she threw the deadbolt.

Sylar became visible and came up behind her. Elle turned and gasped. She took a moment to catch her breath, and then she said, "All that stuff about Peter, I didn't mean that."

"I know." His lie detector had gone off with every lie she told, and there were a lot of them.

Elle pushed past him. "Did you get your superhearing back yet?"

Sylar did not see how she could expect him to read about Dale Smither while that scene unfolded in front of him. "Why did you tell Nathan that?"

She scoffed. "You saw my kitchen. I think it's clear to anyone who knows me that this baby is going to need another parent. I thought it would sound better if I had some potential fathers in mind."

She had misunderstood what he was asking, but she had opened up another line of questions for him. "No, I meant why did you tell him that I'm the biological father? And why am I not in that list of potential fathers?"

Elle sat sideways on the couch and put her feet up. "He was obviously looking for a scandal, so I gave him one. But he doesn't think that you're a rapist. You're welcome. As for the rest of it,... That whole thing about finding a man to raise my baby was just for Nathan. He asked the question, so I said what I thought would sound better, but I didn't mean any of that."

Sylar thought about what she told Nathan. Even though she had been honest about him being the father, she had not done it in a way that suggested that she had any intention of letting him back into her life. He was trying to take it slow, not put too much pressure on her, but he wished he had more of an indication that this was going to work out the way he wanted.

She was watching him with an earnest expression. "There isn't a list, but if there was, you'd be on it. But I can't tell Nathan that. I've set it up in case I decide to be with you. Then all we have to do is have Noah mention to him that we were involved before you were Sylar. I want—Just get the superhearing back and then we can talk about the future."

Sylar sighed and looked at the papers that were still in his hand. "Can't I start with someone easier? Why don't you get me some information on that waitress in Texas? She seemed like a nice girl."

She shook her head. "It has to be that one. It's supposed to be difficult if I'm going to trust you with my child." She closed her eyes for a second. "I mean, our child."

Sylar picked up the manila folder from the counter and put the papers into it. It seemed impossible for him to feel anything for that woman, but if that was all he had to do, he would try. "It took me weeks to feel enough to get James Walker's ability, and he had a kid. I'll read this tonight--" He shook the folder.. "--and report back tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic."

"It took you less than an hour to get my ability."

That was clearly an extreme circumstance, but it was also an opening to talk about the positives of their relationship. He laid down the file and walked toward her. He leaned over the arm of the couch. "You were in pain, and all I wanted was to fix you, to take it away. Because I was in love with you. How am I supposed to feel that for Dale Smither?"

Elle licked her lips. "I don't know, but I really hope you--" She shut her eyes and shook her head.

That was all Sylar needed to hear. He went back for the file. "I'll see you tomorrow."

–

–

**Author's Note**: In case you were wondering, those are really the names of Nathan's children.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Elle was surprised that Sylar was going to leave just then. She knew he said he was going to take the reading and report back to her, but it had not really registered until he was at the door. The abruptness of his departure disturbed her, and she thought about coming up with a reason for him to stay, but she held herself back because she had some thinking to do.

Up to that moment, it seemed to her that Sylar had basically shown up and expected them to get back together. He had yet to apologize for what happened in Prague, and he did not even seem to know why he should be sorry. He referenced getting back together, but he had never asked her if she wanted to. Then he went grocery shopping for her, which made it feel like he was trying to skip the inconvenient steps in between. She resented these things and did not want to make it easy for him to talk his way back into her life.

The night before, Elle had been in a position of power. She was able to tell him that what he was doing was not good enough and send him away. In telling Sylar that all he had to do was get the superhearing back, she knew she was giving up some of her power. It was a calculated risk because she needed to know if he could have that kind of empathy. When she made the split second decision to tell Nathan that Sylar was the father of her baby, she had given up a little more power. Then she tried to prevent herself from giving away too much when she stopped herself from saying that she hoped he would be able to pass her test, but it was clearly too late. If she had come up with a transparent excuse for him to stay, he would have seen through it, and she would have felt that she had given up all of her power.

Once he was gone, however, Elle wondered if her assessment of the power balance was accurate. While he had bought her food, skipping steps in their reunion, he had not done much else that night to pressure her to take him back. It occurred to her that maybe Sylar had always been giving her all the power. He had made some minor protests to the test she had set for him, but that may have had more to do with his doubt that he would be able to it. And it seemed that he had accepted the task. He did not really try to talk her out of it or talk his way around it. Maybe he was not trying to skip ahead. Elle realized that there were more positive ways to view his actions than how she had originally done so.

Maybe she was making it too hard on him. She had been hostile from the moment he showed up, barely giving him a chance to explain anything. Nothing changed the fact that he had not apologized or asked if she wanted him back, and that arrogance should not be rewarded. Nevertheless, if she wanted her child to have a father, she needed to be willing to talk to him about her concerns.

Elle did not regret letting Sylar leave though. He would be back the next night anyway, possibly with superhearing. They could talk then.

–

Before leaving for work on Thursday morning, Elle left Sylar a note, just in case he decided to come over in the middle of the day again or buy her any more stuff. The note simply said that if he got there before she did, it would be great if he would make dinner. Elle knew that was somewhat of an acquiescence to this whole relationship thing, but when it came to home cooked meals, she was not sure that she cared.

When she got to the company, Peter was waiting for her. "So I heard about your conversation with Nathan."

Elle set her purse down on the desk. She was glad that Peter was there to distract her from having to do any real work, not that she considered doing paperwork to be real work anyway, which was part of the problem. Surveillance was a little closer, but not being in the field felt wrong. "Did he tell you that he thought you were the father of my baby?"

Peter rolled his eyes and nodded. After a moment, he said, "But you told him about Sylar. Does that mean that you've made your decision?"

"I don't know." Elle sat down and avoided Peter's eyes. It probably did mean something, but Elle did not want to admit that to herself or Peter. Considering his reaction the day before, Elle wondered why he would really want to discuss that anyway. "This is why I put you in the middle of our relationship. You ask me about it, and you want to know what's happening."

She could tell by the look on his face that she had made a good point, but he resisted admitting that. "I'm only asking about what's going on with you. You're my employee, and if you're going to leave, I just want as much notice as I can get."

Elle did not believe that for a second. "This was your plan, Peter. Don't you want to know how it's going?"

Peter shook his head, not in answer, but in thought. "I don't like thinking of it as my plan. That makes it sound like I've manipulated you, like I was directing people's lives." He paused. "It makes me responsible for that baby you're carrying."

Elle realized that was what Sylar was talking about the night before. "Okay, it wasn't your plan. It was going to happen anyway. You did affect some of my behavior and maybe Sylar's as well, but only in the same way that anyone we know would. You are not responsible for my baby. You don't have to take me in if I don't get back together with Sylar. Is that—Is that why you're pushing me toward him?" She did not give him a chance to answer. "I can only imagine what Nathan told you, but I'm not trying to get you to raise my baby, even if Sylar is out of the picture."

Peter leaned against her desk and considered this for a moment. "I'll tell you the real reason I'm here. I think you are going to go with Sylar, and if that's the case, then there are a few things that we need to discuss before you leave."

Elle could not imagine what those things might be. "Like what?"

He gave her a calculating look. "Like the fact that I know it was your idea for Sylar to kill my mother."

Elle's eyes grew wide. That was the last thing she expected to hear Peter say. She realized this was going to be a hard sell. "No, it wasn't! I--" Immediately after saying that, she remembered that it was pointless because Peter had the lie detecting ability. She blew out her breath and crossed her arms. "Well, at least I can still lie to Nathan. How did you—Did Sylar tell you about that?" Since she had told Peter about Calgary, that seemed sort of fair.

"No. Well, yes, but I already knew you were involved." He left it at that. "The point of telling you that was to get everything out in the open. I just want to finally have a conversation with you without all the lies and hiding. And maybe you'll be honest now, because you don't really have any other choice."

Elle felt like there was a clear shift in their dynamic, and she was no longer as glad that Peter was there to distract her from work. "What do you want me to be honest about?"

Peter shrugged. "Everything. I know a lot of what happened, but there are aspects of your relationship that are so unexpected. For example, not only did Sylar kill my mother because you asked him to, but he didn't kill Molly Walker because you asked him not to."

"How did you--" Elle stopped herself because she was sure she knew the answer. She was starting to wonder what Sylar hadn't told him.

Peter surprised her with his answer to her half-asked question. "I bugged your apartment. That's how I knew about Prague."

Elle was not sure why, but she was struck speechless. That he had bugged her apartment shocked her more than him knowing her part in his mother's death. It was a little strange because she had always expected the company to do that, but she just did not expect it from Peter. She thought about that night and what she might have said.

Peter took advantage of her silence. "I also listened in last night, because you mentioned he was going to be there. And I'm a little confused about something. So just to clarify, Dale Smither is someone he already killed, right?"

It took Elle a second to find her voice. "Yeah. He... Yeah." She paused because she had so many questions to ask, but she did not know where to start. She decided to begin broadly. "What does all this mean for me? What's going to happen now?"

Peter shrugged. "Nothing. Nothing's changed. I knew who you were when I convinced Noah to keep you on. I've known this whole time that your loyalties were never really divided. You weren't playing both sides; you were just playing me. And I don't like to put it this way, but to a certain extent, I was playing you too. After my mother's death, I saw that you were dangerous, unstable. You needed to be handled. Originally, I was trying to keep you away from Sylar because I thought the two of you would make a bad combination, but keeping you apart clearly wasn't working. At the same time, I was trying to find a way to help Sylar. It was Noah's idea to embrace your relationship. I never considered that you could be a good thing for him. It would have never occurred to me that _you_ could be the woman who turned him into the man I saw in the future. I thought you would just bring out the worst in each other."

He stopped there, but Elle wanted him to go on. She did not even bother to be offended by what he was saying; she just wanted to hear what changed his mind or if his mind was even changed. "And then what happened?"

"I talked to you, and it turned out you weren't as crazy or unstable as I thought. And I knew what it was that made him change in that future. It was the kid; it was having a family. I can't provide him with any kind of loving family. If I still thought he was my brother, I could have tried, but he's not. I'm really not happy with Nathan right now, but I still love him, and I am never going to feel that for Sylar."

Elle still was not sure where Peter was going with this. "Okay, so I'm not unstable..."

"I can't forgive Sylar for killing my mother, but you forgave him for killing your father. And then you forgave him again for killing you. That's... that's really powerful, Elle. So I decided to take a chance on you. If he needed a family for him to change, it wasn't my place to handpick a suitable mother for his child. You were the one he wanted. I had to work with that. So I could put the idea of babies in your head, but that was about it."

That did not fit with what Peter had said to her that first day. He told her not to get pregnant. He was the reason she was so honest and open with Sylar about wanting a child. "You said you don't like manipulating people."

"It wasn't about manipulating anyone. I know how that's how it must have sounded, but it wasn't. It was the opposite really. There was no need for manipulation; you two were going to be together anyway. And I didn't actually put the idea of babies in your head. Noah did. And I was wrong about you being bad for Sylar because even before... Wait, when did he first tell you that he loved you?"

Elle did not know why that was relevant. She thought about it. She did not really remember the exact date. "It was the night when he... came back from... London, so... It was the night before he killed your mother, whatever day that was."

He nodded. "Right, he mentioned that it was before that. So you were already making him change before you heard about the future. I was wrong, and you were the one. Who knew?"

Elle figured he heard all that about how Sylar was already changing when he was listening in the night before, but then she remembered that they hadn't had that conversation the night before. It was on Tuesday night. "How many times have you bugged my apartment?"

"Just the two times I told you about. Well, I bugged it once, but I only listened in on the nights I told you about. I didn't hear about that through surveillance. Sylar actually told me that everything started changing for him on the night he told you that he loved you."

Elle had been interested to hear why Peter had made the choices he did, but she was still confused. "And why are you telling me all this now?"

Peter seemed at a loss for how to answer that. It was a few seconds before he spoke. "Because I think you'll be leaving the company soon. And to answer your earlier question, I want you to be with Sylar because--"

Elle held up her hand. "Oh, I think I already know. This conversation has been very illuminating. If you just told Sylar half the things you told me, you could have put that whole jealousy thing to bed. Then he would know that you weren't going to take me in, no matter what."

Peter's expression conveyed disagreement. "I think I made it very clear to Sylar what I think of you, and it did nothing to alleviate that fear. Because I don't hate you, Elle. I told you that this changes nothing. I want you to go with Sylar because he's the father of your child and you want to be with him. If I'm wrong about that, then feel free to turn him away. You can still have your job here, although obviously, Nathan has taken you off the Sylar case. I will still help you keep him away from your child, if that's what you want. Everything I said before still applies."

For the second time that morning, Elle was speechless because now she really did not understand Peter. "Well, if that's what you said to him, no wonder he thinks you're..." Elle shook her head. "You're actually willing to help me raise my baby, aren't you?"

His eyes went to her stomach, which was something Elle was getting used to. "I think it's clear to anyone who knows you that this kid is going to need a..." He did not finish her quote from the night before. "I think if Sylar's out of the picture, you're going to need some help."

Unless Elle was mistaken, Peter had come really close to saying that he was willing to act as the child's father. And that was knowing that she told Sylar to kill his mother, knowing exactly what kind of person Elle was. Her reaction to this was to pull out her trashcan and throw up. Her head still over the receptacle, Elle said, "I'm sorry, that was morning sickness, not you."

Peter took the vomiting in stride as only a healthcare professional could. "I'm not saying that I would force my way into your life or that I'm looking forward to raising your child. But as soon as you discovered you were pregnant, you showed up on my doorstep with pregnancy tests. And that's just going to happen again and again, every time you need help, until the kid is calling me Uncle Peter. And someday, he's going to want to know why he doesn't have a dad like all the other kids, and—And it's probably going to be because I killed his father. And that makes me kind of responsible to him."

Elle stayed doubled over, but she watched Peter as he was saying all this. He had put a lot more thought into the future than she had. "Yeah, that sounds really plausible."

Peter shook his head. "I'm not done. So then you get jealous of some woman I'm dating because you're afraid that she's going to take me away from your kid, and you start going on about how she could never understand us and what we can do and our work. And after what happened to Simone and Caitlin, I just might believe you. Eventually, you get so worried about me getting serious about another woman and abandoning your kid that you seduce me to make sure that I don't go anywhere. And that's how we'd end up together."

Elle was overwhelmed. She had not expected there to be a point in the story where they ended up together. "It seems like if you know all that beforehand, it's not going to work out that way."

Peter thought about that. "Maybe, but on the other hand, I could see it coming a mile away and still go for it. Because by then I'll be totally in love with your kid. And you're attractive. And damaged, and needy."

"I didn't realize that was your type."

He ran his hand through his hair. "It's not, but after years of leaning on me... I didn't have a dream about this or anything. Didn't paint any pictures. It's just a feeling I have about how it's going to work out. So I don't know how you feel about me, but if you don't want Sylar, that's what you have to look forward to."

This was not at all where Elle thought the conversation was going to end up when Peter first decided to be honest with her. She sat up, no longer feeling the effects of morning sickness. She could not believe that they were having a casual conversation about this. "Why would you kill Sylar though? Are you say that you're going to kill him if I decide not to be with him?"

"Not necessarily. I just think that without you or the baby, he's not going to make it that long without killing someone. You're his only reason for changing. And I'm sorry to lay that burden on you, but that's what I believe."

Elle was looking at Peter in a new light. It was a little freeing to know that if she decided Sylar was no good for her baby, Peter would be there for them. "I'm guessing that you didn't share that vision of the future with Sylar."

"It's actually something that's been coming to me in pieces since I last talked to him. But I don't think it would be wise to mention it to him."

Elle could see his point. Sylar seemed to be getting over his jealousy, but this would send him right over the edge. Elle wanted to tell him anyway, let him know that she had options. Besides, she liked it when Sylar was jealous. "Do you have any feelings about what the future might hold if I do go with Sylar? I mean, you have two precognitive abilities. Your feelings might mean something."

Peter nodded slightly. "I don't even know why we're talking about this. We both know what you're going to do. If I thought there was any chance that the future I just laid out for you would appeal to you more than running away with Sylar, I wouldn't have told you about it."

It struck Elle as odd that he was so sure about what she was going to do when she wasn't, but he had a point. That future sounded like a great back-up plan, but she still wanted Sylar to do whatever it was that he had to do to prove himself to her. She did not need to have a vision to know that nothing appealed to her more than spending the rest of her life with Sylar.

Peter pushed off from the desk. "By the way, you should really wash out your trashcan before that dries."

Elle groaned as she looked at her trashcan. He was right about that. She picked it up to take it to the bathroom. "This was a really strange talk, Peter, but I guess I'm glad we had it."

Peter was about to leave, but he stopped in the doorway. "There's one more thing. My mother had a file on Sylar's real parents. I can give it to you, but I don't think you should tell him about them."

That sounded ominous to Elle, and she wondered what it could be that Peter wanted to hide from Sylar. "I have to tell him. Even if you don't give me the file, I have to tell him that you know."

Peter sighed. "I'll give it to you, and then you can decide what to do with the information. But I wouldn't blame you if you changed your mind. And if you do, I promise I won't say a word to him."

Now Elle was really worried about what was in that file, but she was also really curious. Peter left, and Elle followed him out. She changed her mind about the bathroom and took her trashcan to a decontamination area. When she came back, the file was sitting on her desk. She gingerly opened it and started reading.

–

–

**Author's Note**: To give that ending proper weight, I want it to be clear that I'm using his canon parents.


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's note:** I got all my pregnancy information from the internet, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of anything I write here.

--

--

**Chapter 41**

When Elle came home that night, she was disappointed to find the apartment empty. She checked the oven, but there was no dinner waiting for her. She knew it was probably for the best that Sylar was not there. She was finally ready to talk to him about their chances for the future, but she had no idea what she was going to tell him about his parents, about his father specifically. Nothing in that file boded well for their family.

She thought about following Peter's advice to not say anything about them. As long as Sylar did not ask her a direct question about what she knew, he would never know that she was keeping anything from him. She thought about how she would feel if she found out that her father murdered her mother, if she would even want to know, but it was a completely different situation. That was not the part that worried her anyway. It was the fact that he had the same ability as his father. She was not really concerned that her child would get the ability too, and even if it did, the killing had never bothered Elle much anyway. She just did not know how Sylar was going to feel about it. That was just another reason to kill the child, to spare it that horrible life. On the one hand, seeing how he handled the news would actually be really good for Elle. She would be fascinated to find out how it effected his feelings about the baby and his ability to be a father. But, on the other hand, she could not do anything that would put the baby in danger. She could not lie to Sylar either. It was difficult to know what to do.

It occurred to Elle that the reason Sylar was not there might be because he did not have the superhearing back yet. She could see how she might have given him the impression that he should not bother to come back until that happened. That might have been the impression she was trying to give him at the time, but now she just really wanted to see him. She realized then that she still had no way of contacting him, so there was nothing she could do about it until he returned.

Feeling a little bored after spending the whole day so keyed up, Elle started straightening the papers on her counter. She was not really paying attention to them at first, but then she realized they were from the research she did on Dale Smither. That meant Sylar had been there, and hopefully it meant that he intended to return. She pulled the note off the refrigerator door and threw it away. He had either gotten the message or he hadn't; she did not need to leave it up anymore.

Elle had her back to the entrance of the kitchen, and she was startled when someone spoke behind her. "I was going to leave you a note to let you know I was bringing dinner, but I thought I would get back before you."

She turned around to see Sylar standing there, carrying a bag of groceries. It was a little ridiculous how happy she was to see him. She did not want to let it show though. "You know, it wasn't locked. You could just use the door like a normal person."

Sylar set the bag on the counter. "Actually, I couldn't because your apartment is being watched."

"What?" Elle looked at the front door, paranoid. She remembered then that Peter still had her apartment bugged, but she really doubted that he would put her under surveillance after the conversation they just had. "By who?"

Sylar shrugged. "Some guy. I think he's working for Nathan."

He was way too calm about this. "That's it? Does he have an ability? Did he bug the apartment?"

Sylar pulled out a pan that Elle did not recognize, although it might have been hers. "No and no."

Elle did not know how he could possibly be so sure about that. She decided to take his word on the ability, but the bugging was another matter. "How do you know? You left the apartment."

"Because he's not from the company. He's from Nathan's congressional office. Do you think Nathan would really risk involving an agent when you and Peter are better connected than him? I don't know what Nathan told the kid about you, but I don't think he has any idea why he's out there. I'm guessing he's being well paid to sit in his car and do nothing. Either way, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to cook real food for my baby."

If Sylar was right, and the guy outside was just a congressional page, then Elle had no need to worry Sylar about the existing bugs in her apartment. If Sylar was wrong and the guy was somehow involved with the company, then it was already too late to do anything about that. She looked to see what he was going to make her for dinner. When she saw the steaks, her mouth immediately started watering. Somehow, he had anticipated her craving before she even knew she was having one. "How did you know I'd be craving red meat?"

Sylar put some kind of seasoning on the meat. "I didn't, but one of your books said that it's a good source of iron, which is important. You're at risk of becoming anemic."

Elle loved that Sylar had read one of her books, internalized the advice, and was worried about her becoming anemic. She was not even sure what anemia was. "Well, it's a good call, and I really appreciate you making me dinner." She did not add the part about how it was really nice considering how hostile she had been because she did not want to admit just yet that she felt bad about that.

He looked up at her and sighed. "Thanks for letting me make you dinner." He shook his head. "Getting back the superhearing is impossible. I just want to do as much for you and the baby as I can before you stop letting me do anything for you."

Elle pushed herself up onto the counter and took a baby carrot out of the bag sitting next to her. "It's supposed to be hard, but it's not impossible. Don't give up after one day. If you don't believe you can do it, then it's never going to happen."

He put the steaks in the oven and started on the instant potatoes. "I didn't believe I could get James Walker's ability."

"It was just a theory." She ate her carrot as she watched him bustle around the kitchen. It was kind of turning her on how domestic he was acting. It was not necessarily the kind of thing that would normally be attractive to her, but the effort he was putting into making her happy and healthy was more than she could have asked for.

"I've read all the information you gave me on Dale. There is nothing sympathetic there."

Elle placed the bag of carrots on her lap and ate another one. "Yeah, but there's nothing particularly unsympathetic either. That was kind of the point. She was neither a good nor bad person. You have to connect to her using only her basic humanity."

He nodded and took the carrots away from her. "Stop eating those. I'm making dinner."

The way he admonished her for spoiling her appetite made him sound very paternal. Elle held herself off from telling him that he was going to make a great father, because they were not there yet. She was not yet at a place where she could tell him that she was willing to let him be in the baby's life. She decided it was best to keep talking about Dale Smither. "Just so you know, you're not just limited to the information I gave you. If you need to know more, feel free to do your own research."

"Oh, I think your research was extensive enough. It was really overkill. I mean I was there with Mohinder; I already knew everything he told you."

He had a point, but Elle had not known that until she finished hearing Mohinder's story, and by then she did not see the point of wasting the research, so she put it in the file. "You might not have cared enough to remember specifics. Mohinder was there to learn, but you were just there to kill her."

Sylar smirked at that, which told Elle that he did not feel the least bit bad about what he did. She was not sure that she could blame him. She did not think she would be able to feel remorse over every little kill. It seemed a little hypocritical for her to insist that he had to change if he wanted to be in the baby's life. After all, no one had implied that she was unfit to be a mother even though she had a tendency to make the occasional gratuitous kill. Of course, she liked to think that she had a little more self-control when it came to killing.

"What is Mohinder doing now?" Sylar asked, smirk still in place.

There was some malice in this question, and Elle liked that. She was glad that he had not become completely Gabriel again. Mohinder was back to driving a cab in the city, but Elle did not want to tell Sylar that. She was not sure if he was aware that Mohinder now had a real ability. She decided to answer vaguely. "After the disaster at Pinehearst, he's laying low for a while."

"And why did you tell him that you were asking? Because I'm sure he didn't know you were trying to help me." He took a baby carrot out of the bag to eat.

"Hey!" Elle held out her hand for one, and he reluctantly gave it to her. She was glad that he was thinking of this as her helping him. "I told him I was compiling data on your victims. Which means I also got a lot of unnecessary information about some guy in Virginia."

Sylar went back into the oven and flipped the steaks. As far as Elle could remember that was the first time the oven had been use since she moved in. The water for the potatoes had started boiling so he was preoccupied. Elle took the opportunity to gather her thoughts. She had been putting off the serious conversations for dinner. The atmosphere in the kitchen was not right for those topics anyway. The problem was that Elle was not sure how many of those serious topics she really wanted to discuss at all.

She felt like she should be doing something since it was her apartment, so Elle jumped down from the counter. She had to look in several places before she found the placemats stuffed at the bottom of the junk drawer. She shook them out and got out the silverware to set the table. A few minutes later, Sylar appeared at the table carrying plates of food, which was great because Elle was getting really hungry.

As she took her first bite of steak, Elle thought about the reason he had made this particular meal. "How do you know that you can't get the superhearing if you spent the whole day reading my pregnancy books?"

"I didn't—I read the research too. But your books were more interesting." He paused to take a bite of his food. "Although you must be having a pretty mild pregnancy if you didn't even know you were pregnant for the first month."

Elle bristled a little at the idea that what she had gone through was mild. "I had the symptoms; I just didn't realize it. The first time I threw up was on the plane back to the States. I chalked it up to airsickness even though I had never gotten airsick before. Then when it continued, I blamed foreign food and a stomach bug. I was tired and emotional and on edge, but I thought it was just because you had left me. I was just too preoccupied with my own..." Elle stopped because she did not want it to sound like she was lay a guilt trip on him. "There's something you should know."

"What?" he asked, speaking with his mouth full.

It was time for the serious talk. Elle thought about where to begin. "I was raised by my father."

Sylar swallowed. "I already knew that."

"I know. I mean so I understand how important a father can be for a child. I don't want—If you can show me that you won't be a bad influence in this child's life, I don't want to keep you away from it. So here's what you need to know: the baby and me, we're not a package deal. You don't have to get back together with me to be in your child's life. As upsetting as the breakup was for me, I'm not vindictive. So if you really just came back because I'm pregnant, that's okay. I would just rather know that now."

Sylar did not know exactly when it had occurred, but Elle's entire attitude toward him had changed. She was not being nearly as antagonistic as she had been when he first came to see her. He knew where she would have gotten the idea that he was only interested in the baby, and he was eager to disabuse her of that misconception.

Before he could do that, however, Elle spoke again. "You're still going to have to get the superhearing back. That was for the baby, not me. This isn't going to spare you from being stifled."

Sylar nodded, but again, Elle cut him off. "The offer might seem a little disingenuous. How can you be a part of the child's life if we don't go into hiding together? I mean Nathan's already posting people outside. But, um, you know, I'm willing to try to find a way to make that work."

That was the first time she had mentioned going into hiding. Sylar had not really thought about that because he could hide anywhere. It did not seem like it would be that difficult for him to drop in to see the child, even with Nathan's surveillance. In fact, it seemed that it would be much more difficult for her to stop him from doing that. None of that mattered though because he was not only there because of the baby. "I only left you in Prague because I was trying to protect you."

Elle scoffed. "From what? What was going to happen to me? You said that you couldn't bring yourself to kill anymore, so really you were trying to... I remember what you said about not wanting to change and getting back to Kirby Plaza. So what were you protecting me from?"

She was making some good points. "False hope, maybe backlash? I don't really remember. I have a long history of hurting people; there was always something to protect you from. I know a large part of it was that I didn't want you to get pregnant."

She laughed. "Could have fooled me. You really weren't very vigilant about preventing pregnancy."

"I should rephrase that. I didn't want you to get pregnant for your sake. _I_ wanted you to get pregnant with my child, but I didn't think it would be in your best interest. I thought you'd be better off if we just made a clean break." This seemed to leave Elle at a loss, and she ate quietly. "I've dreamed about our child, Elle. I don't know if he's the some one you're carrying, but... it's different when you see him. Peter said the same thing about him being more real. I wanted a child." Sylar realized they had gotten off track. "But I'm not here for him. I'm here for you. I want the whole package deal."

Elle appeared really happy to hear that. She put her hand over her stomach. "You and Peter are so convinced that its a boy, but I'm not so sure. It's still fifty-fifty, no matter what you've seen. I don't want you to be disappointed if I have a girl. Promise you'll love it the same regardless."

Sylar knew she was right. The dreams he had about baby Noah all stemmed from that one future. There was no reason to think that she was having a boy. It would really be a relief if she had a girl because then he would not have to worry about any of those dreams. "I promise. But as long as we're talking about the baby, I have a few requests, whether or not I'm in his or her life."

Elle looked wary. "Okay."

"There's just three things. First, that you don't name him—if it's a boy, don't name him Noah. Second, that you never live in Costa Verde. And third, I really want him—or her—to be baptized. Preferably in the Catholic Church, but if you have a religion, we can talk about that."

She had nodded during the first two requests, but he could tell that she was overwhelmed by the third. It probably seemed to come out of nowhere since Sylar had not lived a very Christian life. He felt the need to explain. "I'm not exactly a believer anymore, but I want to give our kid a chance, just in case."

She thought about that. "What if my religion is something outside of Christianity?"

Sylar really did not think that Elle had a religion, and even if she did, she was not serious about it. It seemed like it would have come up if she was a practicing Jew or something else. He said he was willing to talk about it, not that he was willing to automatically defer to whatever religion she wanted. "We can discuss that. Any kind of religiously ordained blessing will be fine. It's just that the kid's father was what some might consider evil incarnate for a while, so I'd feel more comfortable if he or she was under the protection of some deity."

"So if I was Hindu, you'd be fine with--"

"Elle." He sighed. "I'm serious about this."

She smiled. "Okay, we can have it baptized. It just seems strange to do it if we both don't believe in anything. I mean I was dead, and I didn't go anywhere. No white light or choirs of angels."

Sylar felt that he might still kind of believe. He did not think about it much, but he had believed in God for his whole life, even for a while after he started killing. It was not something that just went away. Since Elle had agreed to the baptism, he did not want to push it or talk about it anymore. He did not want to think about the fact that baptism had done very little to save his own soul. "Well, then thank you for humoring me."

Elle had finished off her dinner. "Now what?"

He took the plate from her. "Now I'll clean up in the kitchen and go back to my motel."

He stood, but he did not go into the kitchen because it looked like Elle had something she wanted to say. "You—You could stay here. It seems silly for you to waste money on a motel room when... when you could be staying here."

Between the invisibility and the phasing, Sylar did not pay for motel rooms anymore. He doubted that she was really saying that because of the money though. He did not want to make any assumptions about what she really meant, but it seemed promising. "Yeah, I could just stay here."

When he went into the kitchen, Elle followed him. "Did you get dessert?"

Sylar rinsed off the dishes. "I didn't think that would be necessary since you have a vat of ice cream in your freezer."

"If you read my pregnancy books, you know that now is not the time for dieting." Elle felt that she had a pretty good deal going here. It was her apartment, but Sylar was doing all the cooking and cleaning. She wondered if she could convince him to do the vacuuming too by saying that whatever was in those carpets probably was not good for the baby.

Sylar asked her about her doctor, and she told him that she had consulted with a company physician, who was not much of an obstetrician. The conversation moved to the couch, where Elle was forced to admit that she had refused to have an ultrasound. It was probably irrational, but she had a fear that she would short out the machine and hurt the baby. That was another reason for him to get back the superhearing. Right now it was only the morning sickness that let her know she was still pregnant.

After about an hour of talking, mostly about the baby because it was a safer topic than most, Elle started to get tired. She closed her eyes and drifted off mid-sentence. She knew that she should continue, but she just could not find the energy to keep talking. She could not even remember what she had been saying.

Sylar pulled her to her feet and led her to the bedroom. She very lethargically got out of her clothes and into a nightgown. As she lay in bed, he asked her, "Did you want me to stay here or on the couch?"

Elle had not asked him to stay because she had any intention of having sex with him; she just felt better when he was around. That did not mean that he could not sleep in the bed though. "Here," she responded with her eyes closed.

--

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**Author's Note:** I've alluded to Sylar being Catholic a couple times with the stigmata and the Lord's Prayer. But it's really that thing early in the show with the "I have sinned" written in blood that cements it for me. (Although, I'm Catholic and I don't think I would ever do that. It's just a very cliched pop culture depiction of Catholicism.)


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's Note:** I know, Angela's dreams are confusing. I pretty much knew that before, but it is nearly impossible to write a confusing dream that conveys what I need conveyed. And I'm not at that level. So I write the dreams as very literal.

--

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**Chapter 42:**

_Night 133:_

Sylar had only made three requests of Elle, and yet in his dream that night, she had defied at least two of his wishes.

Little Noah was sitting at the island in the Costa Verde house, eating a peanut butter sandwich and kicking his feet wildly. Elle was cleaning up around the kitchen and watching her son. She usually did not look any different in these dreams, but this time her hair was considerably shorter, and she looked older.

Peter walked into the house without knocking, which confirmed for Sylar that this was not a typical dream. He walked up to Elle and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Sylar knew that he did not want to see this scene, but the dream was not giving him a choice.

Peter ruffled Noah's hair. "Your mother tells me that you have a playdate at the aquarium this afternoon."

"Mm-hmm. They have sharks there." Noah ate some more of his sandwich, and then he looked up at Peter with wide eyes. "Uncle Peter, are you my daddy?"

Peter and Elle shared a look over Noah's head. "No, Noah. I'm just your Uncle Peter."

"It's just that Kevin said that his daddy is always kissing his mommy, and Jeff said that his daddy doesn't live with him and he only see him on the weekends. And that sounds like you, Uncle Peter. So I thought maybe you were."

Elle went into the living room and picked up a framed picture of Sylar. "Noah, honey, we talked about this." She sat on the stool next to him and held up the picture for him to see. "This is your daddy."

"But Uncle Peter is here all the time, and I don't even know _him._" He pointed at the picture.

Elle sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "I know this must be hard for you to understand, but your daddy had to go to heaven before you were even born." Peter made a slight scoffing sound when she said Sylar was in heaven. "And he can't come back. When I was about your age, my mommy had to go to heaven too."

"But he can't be my daddy if he's in heaven. Why can't Uncle Peter be my daddy?"

Elle turned around the picture frame so that she could see Sylar's face. "It's okay to think of Uncle Peter like a father, but I want you to know that your real daddy loved you very much."

The doorbell rang, and Elle got up to answer it, hugging the picture to her chest. The woman at the door was Stepford-like in appearance. "Hi, is Noah ready?"

Noah came running up carrying a G.I. Joe backpack. "Yes!" He hugged Elle around the legs and said goodbye to both her and Peter before running out to the car.

"Oh." The woman gestured at the picture. "Was that your husband?"

Elle looked down. "Um, yeah. Noah was just asking some questions about his father."

"What happened to him?" She sounded a little too eager and added, "If you don't mind me asking."

It was clear to Sylar, as an observer, that Elle was not comfortable with this question. "He was shot in the head," she said thickly.

"Oh, my God, that's horrible!" This proclamation was missing something that would sell the sincerity. Sylar had no doubt that the woman thought it was horrible, but she seemed to really appreciate the fodder for gossip. "That's why I hate New York, too much crime. No wonder you left."

Elle seemed unsure what to make of that. "Yeah. Well, I hope you all have fun at the aquarium."

The woman smiled and waved to Elle, then to Peter. Elle closed the door with her free hand. "I was from Hartsdale, not the Bronx." She shook her head. "Four years without telling anyone the details, and by this time tomorrow, the mother of every preschooler in town will know how my 'husband' died."

Peter had other things on his mind. "He's right. I'm practically his father."

Elle put Sylar's picture back where she had gotten it. "Yeah, I just hate that he... I just want him to know that his real father wanted him." Her eyes lingered on the picture.

Peter put his hand on her shoulder. "I know I'm supposed to be the empathetic one, but I've always been in awe of the way you could forgive the people who killed the people you love."

"Well, with Gabriel it was..." She turned away from the picture and looked Peter in the eye. "But I never blamed you. I mean I'm going to have to tell the real housewives of this county that he was murdered, but you didn't do anything wrong. And besides, you're the only person here who really knows me."

"Exactly. Elle, I've been thinking." He shook his head. "That's a terrible way to start." He did not seem to know where to go from there.

She was getting impatient. "Spit it out, Peter."

He still took a few moments to find the right way to phrase what he wanted to say. Then he seemed to give up trying to find the perfect words. He kind of shrugged and said with little emotion, "Will you marry me?"

Elle laughed. "No, no." She went into the kitchen and took Noah's plate off the island.

Peter went after her. "Why not?"

"Look, it's one thing to have sex, but... Are you really doing this? One bad break-up, and you're just going to give up on finding someone?"

"It's not giving up, Elle. This isn't—Bonnie has nothing to do with this, but you were right. She will never understand what I do; she doesn't belong in our world. It was difficult for me to admit that, but you were right about all of it. None of that matters right now though. This is about us. We've been together for a year, and it was never just about sex. If you say it was for you, then you're the one who's giving up."

Elle sighed. "Gabriel--"

"Is dead. I'm sorry, but he's been gone for five years. I'm here. I want to be a family, Elle. I want to adopt your son and give you the stable home you've always wanted." He came around the island so that they were on the same side. "I love you, Elle. I love you more than Sylar did." He took a ring box out of his pocket and set it on the counter. "Just think about it."

He walked toward the door. "Wait," Elle called. She picked up the ring box. "If we get married, you would have to respect Gabriel's memory, at least in front of Noah. You can't say for sure that you love me more than he did."

It was clear that Peter disagreed with her about that, but he did not say anything. He just watched as she opened the box and slipped the ring onto her own finger.

She examined her hand. "I think maybe I could learn to love you too, the way I love him. And Noah needs a father. Plus, I can handle him now, but what if he manifests into something powerful? I think it might be child abuse to--" She conjured a ball of electricity and let it fizzle out. "I'm still going to need help. And really best of all, I'd be sister-in-law to the President. I hate your brother, but that sounds really cool." By that point, she sounded really excited about the whole thing. She ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. "Let's get married!"

–

Elle was awakened by the sound of Sylar groaning. She opened one eye to look at him. He was running his hand through his hair. "That was even worse than I expected," he murmured.

She sighed and opened both eyes. "Bad dream?"

The expression on his face when he turned his head to look at her answered that question. With one swift move, he pulled her on top of him. She landed so that their faces were very close, their noses practically touching, and she had to work hard to keep her breathing from becoming labored.

He looked deep into her eyes as though he was searching for something. In that moment, she remembered that he had night vision, so he could see her much more clearly than she could see him. "I'll get the superhearing back. I'll do whatever I have to do to prove how much I love you. _I_ want to give you the stable home you've always wanted. Just please don't marry Peter."

Elle had not really been expecting that. "When did I marry Peter?"

"Five years from now, after he broke up with the girlfriend that could never understand him and you started sleeping together."

Elle was amazed. "That's the second time Peter has told me about a future, and then you dream it the same night." She knew that she should be reassuring him that she did not want to marry Peter, but she was more interested in the other part of it.

"So Peter told you about that? Great." It sounded like his teeth were clenched.

"Isn't it? I mean it's good to know that I have options." This dream was giving Elle the best of both worlds. Now she did not have to bring it up, and he still knew about her options. "What are you going to do if I decide I want to be with Peter?"

There was a long silence. Elle was afraid that she had gone too far. She wondered why she could not just quit while she was ahead. After a few seconds of her mentally kicking herself, she felt Sylar run his hand up her body. "I guess I would have to make sure that you really thought that through." He raised his head to close the small gap between their mouths.

He flipped her onto her back and moved his lips down to kiss her neck. Elle did not say anything because, if she did, she would have to tell him to stop, and that was the last thing she wanted. He pushed her nightgown up slowly, giving her plenty of time to protest, but she didn't. He lifted his head and gave her a questioning look. Elle did not know what she was supposed to say. She did not want to do anything that would be too encouraging and give him the wrong idea, but she also did not want to do anything that might make him stop. So she just nodded.

When it was over, Elle rolled onto her side to look at Sylar. She wanted to make something clear. "I did not mean to do that."

"Sorry," Sylar said, not sounding at all sorry.

"Just so you know, this does not mean that we're back together."

Something in the way Sylar nodded told Elle that it was for the best that she had clarified that. "Then what does it mean?"

Elle thought about how to answer that. "It means I still need to work on that self-control." She realized that might have sounded a little bit more mean than she intended. "No, it means that there are no shortcuts. I still need you to..." She decided to make a huge concession to him. "I want to be with you, but I have to think about what's best for the baby. I need you to do something that I can point to when I start to worry that I'm putting my own wants ahead of my child's welfare. Something where I can tell myself that no, it wasn't the wrong choice because you've shown that you have empathy or whatever. So... we can probably still have sex until the baby is born, but we are not back together until you get the superhearing."

"Okay." They lay there in silence for a few seconds. Then Sylar spoke. "I understand that, Elle. And I'm really glad that you're so concerned about our child's welfare. It's just--" He sighed. "It's just I don't know what you and Peter talk about at work all day. I don't know what he's saying to you, what he might be convincing you of."

"We don't talk that often at work. And he doesn't—I don't know why he told me about that future, but it wasn't like he was trying to sell me on it. He just wanted me to know..." Elle did not know how to explain it without making it sound worse than it was. Since Peter was being nice to her, she did not want to get Sylar too riled up. "...that he didn't hate me even knowing my part in his mother's death."

Sylar gave her a tight-lipped smile. "That's pretty remarkable, isn't it? He knew that it was your idea to kill his mother. You wound up a serial killer and pointed him in Angela's direction. Knowing that, he still wanted to marry you."

"Well, you killed my father, and I was able to..." Elle realized then that she was making Sylar's point. It had just taken her a moment to figure out what his point was. "Yeah, I see where you're going with that."

"I just want you to know one thing. No matter what happens, if Peter kills me and moves in on my family, I want you to know that he will _never_ love you as much as I do."

She could not help it; she loved it when he was jealous. "Did he say that?"

"He said he loved you more," Sylar said bitterly. "And it was ridiculous because he didn't even love you. He only wanted to marry you because it was easy. He wanted a family and mine was--you were available. He was already practically Noah's father, and after you talked him into breaking up with Bonnie... It was comfortable; it wasn't love."

Elle felt that was purely speculative. After all, if Peter did not say it, how would Sylar know? This brought up new questions for Elle. When Peter said they would end up together, he really meant that. "So what's going to happen to Peter when I end up with you?"

Sylar shook his head like he did not think it should matter. "He'll be fine. Without you there to break them up, he'll probably be very happy with Bonnie, who could handle his life just fine."

Elle thought that he was probably right, and she felt relieved. She did not want to feel responsible for Peter's happiness, probably any more than he wanted to be responsible for hers. She gasped. In that moment, she remembered again that Peter had her apartment bugged. Considering what he knew, that probably included her bedroom. There was almost no chance that he would be listening right then, when both Elle and Sylar had been asleep for hours, but she still wanted to get off the topic. "I don't want to talk about Peter anymore."

Sylar was really curious about that unexplained gasp, but he decided to let it go. There was no reason for him to be jealous of Peter. Even in the dream, it had been obvious that she still missed and loved Sylar. It bothered him to think that she could marry the man who killed him, but there was nothing to suggest that she would ever choose Peter over him while he was still alive. Elle had just told him that she wanted to be with him and expressed an expectation that they would end up together. So as long as Sylar could stop himself from being killed, he did not have to worry about any of the heartbreaking moments in that dream, like his son saying that he did not even know him.

He looked over at Elle. "Okay. You should go back to sleep anyway. It's important for you to get enough rest."

Elle rolled her eyes. Sylar stretched and settled in to fall asleep again, but he could feel Elle staring at him. He opened his eyes. "Did you have something else you wanted to talk about?"

She shook her head. "No."

That was a lie. "Whatever it is, we can talk about it in the morning."

Elle sighed. "Yeah, okay." She did not sound like she was looking forward to that. It made Sylar wonder what she was going to say, but it also made him glad that they were putting it off for a few more hours. After all the positive steps they had taken in their relationship that night, he did not want to discuss the negatives just yet.

–

–

**Author's Note:** When Elle says "I think... love you too, the way I _love_ him" (present tense) that's intentional. It's exactly the kind of typo I would make, but this time it isn't. (For some reason it's important to me that you know she presently loves him in the future.)


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's Note**: This is a pointless story for me to tell, but I actually started writing this particular fic on the day of my first exam in the fall. I was upset over the Heroes episode the night before and I did not want it to affect my focus for what was a very difficult exam. (There was an incident in high school where I was flustered over a boy and got a C on a midterm I should have aced. I did not want history to repeat itself.) So I needed to write a fix for Sylar killing Elle to clear my mind. (I know it's pathetic that I could be that affected. It's just TV.) Anyway, today, I had my first exam for spring, and I was feeling a little unhappy with the Heroes episode last night. (The finale.) Total deja vu. And I cannot believe I've been writing this all semester.

--

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**Chapter 43:**

The next time Elle woke up it was because of her alarm. Her first reaction was to curse internally. She could only hope that Sylar had forgotten that they had something to discuss long enough for her to get out the door. Once she was at work, she would have the whole day to think of something else important for them to talk about.

She jumped out of bed and into the shower before he could say anything to her. While she got dressed, she tried to distract him by talking about anything other than his parents. She ate her breakfast of pop tarts over the sink and had made it most of the way through the package before Sylar asked her what it was she wanted to discuss. She had been so close to getting out of there, too. She stuffed the last of the pop tart in her mouth to buy time, but nothing else came to her.

He watched her with narrowed, suspicious eyes, and Elle told herself that she was always going to tell him about his parents. She had never really intended to keep it from him, but when she finally swallowed, she could not bring herself to say it. He was in a good place; he was committed to her and the baby, and if she understood correctly, he had not killed anyone in months. She could not help but be afraid that things would change when he found out his parents. Why did Peter even have to tell her? Why burden her with this information? She decided to start in a different direction, frame the conversation before telling him. "I told you once that I thought you were beyond redemption. I said you didn't have a soul and you couldn't be saved anymore. I want you to know that I don't think that anymore."

"Okay," he said, prompting her to go on.

She felt that this part needed to be emphasized. "I'm just saying that things have changed. You're in control of the hunger, or whatever you call it, in a way I never thought was possible. You are much stronger than I realized. But I shouldn't be surprised because you have repeatedly shown that you are so remarkable and strong and special. No matter what--"

He stopped her. "Wow, this must be something really bad."

She knew it was time to stop stalling, but she still spoke very slowly, for no other reason than to drag it out. "No, it's good news. I was able to find out who your parents are."

Sylar was quiet, probably trying to discern how the beginning of the conversation figured into that. Elle moved to throw away the wrapper from her breakfast, but Sylar grabbed her wrist to keep her in place. "So who are they?"

Elle looked down at his hand on her wrist and took a moment to decide whether it was worth getting upset about. He was not hurting her, and she did not think that he meant it to be particularly threatening, so she did not pull her arm away. "I left the file in my office. I'll bring it home tonight, and we can talk about it then."

Sylar did not let go of her arm immediately, but he did loosen his grip. "Do you need the file, or do you already know everything it says?"

His parents had always been such a sensitive topic for him. Finding out that the Petrellis were not his parents was one of the things that led to him killing her the first time. She could try to beat around the bush and maybe convince him that she needed the file, but she did not think it was wise to play those games with him right now. "Let me just call Peter and tell him I'll be late."

Sylar did not resist as she gently slid her wrist out of his grip and went for her phone. Peter picked up on the second ring. "Peter, I'm going to be late for work today." She felt stupid saying that since no one, least of all Peter, paid strict attention to punctuality. "Sylar and I need to talk about his parents."

"Good luck with that."

Elle walked deeper into the living room and lowered her voice so that she could ask Peter about the real reason she called. She just had to hope that Sylar did not overhear what she was about to say. "If Sylar kills his father, could that be like a freebie?"

There was silence on the other end for several seconds. "No, no killing."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you try to kill your own father once?" Elle was a little sketchy on the details since she had been dead at the time, but she thought she had heard that.

There was another silence. "Okay, that's one, and I didn't succeed. How many people has he already killed?"

"And when you got his ability, didn't you try to kill Nathan and your mother?" She was more confident about that one since Peter had told her about it.

Peter sighed. "Elle, I know what you're doing, and in a way, you're right. But we can't start making exceptions for him. He needs to learn not to kill people, because it is almost never the right reaction. If it was self-defense or to save someone else,... but that's not a loophole. I'll know if it was self-defense or not."

While she was talking to Peter, Sylar inched progressively closer. So when Elle spoke this time, she was sure that he would be able to hear her, but that did not matter anymore. "Okay, I might not come in at all today." She looked at Sylar. "But, uh, but I will be working."

"I don't know what that means,--" He sounded very concerned. "--but be careful."

Elle hung up the phone and hit it against her hand a few times. Then she walked over to Sylar. "Let's do what you said before. Let's just leave and reinvent ourselves, free of parents. And powers, if that's what you want. This baby and I are your family now. Let's just forget about all of this and start over."

Sylar shook his head, skeptical. "That's quite a one-eighty you just did. I haven't even done what you asked yet. So why are you suddenly so eager to run away? And how is that still working?"

That was not what she meant when she told Peter she would be working. Distracting or seducing Sylar into forgetting about his parents had only been Plan A, and it was not one she expected to work. "Doing anything with you is working, because my only real assignment is to keep you from killing anyone."

Sylar took a step forward. She could see in his face that he was already reverting back to Sylar, and he had not even heard anything yet. "And who are you keeping me from killing now?"

Elle took a deep breath. That was her mistake. "Your mother was killed when you were very young. We don't know much about her. There was never any confirmation that she was one of us. Your father is another matter. We've recently amassed a lot of information about his ability."

"I don't think you answered my question."

Elle ignored him because she was getting there. It was important to start at the beginning, and she was not going to be rushed. "It was your father's idea to give you away when you were a child. He took you to a restaurant out west and gave you to your adopted parents, who never actually adopted you. Then he went out to the car where your mother was waiting and--"

She stopped, not because she was having difficulty saying it, although that was part of it, but because he was looking through her. She was not sure if he was listening, and she really did not want to have to say it any more times than necessary. "I remember," he whispered. "I saw him leaving, and I went after him. When he got back to the car... I remember seeing him kill my mother."

Nowhere in the file did it say that Sylar had witnessed the murder, probably because Angela did not know that. Elle sank onto the couch, feeling queasy at the thought of him seeing that as a small child. She did not say anything so as not to hamper his ability to recall.

He furrowed his brow, but Elle could tell that he did not remember anything else. "Do you know where he is now?"

There was no point in lying. "Yeah," she said simply.

Sylar recognized that she was not just being thick, but that she was actually keeping it from him. "And where is that?"

She crossed her arms, holding her stomach. "I'm not going to tell you."

That did not surprise Sylar. "What is it that you're so afraid of?"

Elle pursed her lips, and for a second it looked like she was not going to tell him that either. "Isn't it obvious? That you'll kill him. I just asked Peter about that, and if you do, that's it." She made a cutting motion at her neck. "And then I'll end up marrying Peter because you'll be dead."

Sylar had a flash of Elle holding up a photograph to their son and telling him that was his father. What she was saying made sense, but he felt that there was more to it than that. "Okay, then I swear to you that I won't kill him, I just want to talk to him." The look on her face told him that he was right about her being afraid of more than just that. "Elle, you can't just tell me that you found my parents—my father, and then not tell me anything about him. What else are you hiding?"

Elle looked down at her stomach. "I just feel like if you talk to him, it's going to change the way you feel about me and the baby."

She was being purposefully vague, and whatever it was probably was not as bad as she was building it up to be. "And what could he possibly say that would do that?"

"Lots of stuff, I'm sure. You got it from him."

This was getting very frustrating. "Got what from him?"

She seemed to think that he should already know what she meant by that. "Your ability! You got your ability from him. You got the killing from him. You got slicing open someone's head as a way of ending a relationship from him."

Sylar wanted to make sure that she was saying what it sounded like. Obviously he had gotten an ability from his father; that was how these things worked. "You mean that he has the same ability as me. When you say I got the killing from him, you mean the hunger."

Elle nodded. "So, of course you're going to want to talk to him, and I don't know what he's going to say."

Sylar blew out his breath and turned away from her to think. Then he turned back because Elle was clearly worried, and he did not want to exacerbate that until she had a reason to be worried. He sat next to her on the couch. "How long have you known?"

"Since yesterday. I always forgot to do anything about that, but yesterday, Peter gave me the file. I guess he..."

Sylar did not like it when she censored herself while talking about Peter. As it was, there were a lot of possibilities running though his head, all having to do with why Peter would want him to know about his parents. "He what?"

"He knew that you wanted to know about your parents," she said quickly, as though that was not this important part. "But I'm thinking he knew that because he, uh, he bugged my apartment a while back. And he might be listening in right now because he knew we were going to be talking about your father."

Sylar did not want to get off the topic of his father and Elle's fears, but this seemed like a side trip that needed to be taken. "Peter bugged the apartment, and you're just telling me this now?"

She shrugged. "I only found out about that yesterday too, and it didn't seem that important last night. He wouldn't have been listening after the conversation he and I just had." She added as an afterthought, "Probably."

That explained her gasp and sudden insistence that they not talk about Peter anymore. "But you're saying he has eavesdropped on us before?"

"Yeah, a couple times. We talked about it, and it's fine." Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head. "I mean it's not fine; it's a horrible invasion of privacy. But... I don't want you to think about it too much."

He was already thinking about it too much. She was being vague again, and that really bothered him, but today was not about Peter. "Okay, let's get back to talking about my father."

He saw Elle's face fall. "Do we have to?"

"Yes." Sylar put his arm around her shoulder. "You don't want me to talk to him, but what do you think he is going to say to change anything? Are you worried that he'll tell me to ditch you and the kid and I'll do it because he's my father?"

That sounded ridiculous when he said it, but Elle had done a lot of things just because her father told her to. She supposed that was different. Her relationship with her father was all she really had to go on, but it was not particularly applicable here. "That's not exactly it. I'm worried about what he might tell you about _why_ he did it. I'm worried that with all his understanding of your ability, he'll be able to get into your head and convince you that men like you can never change. Maybe he'll have compelling reasons why a man like you shouldn't be tied down with a wife and kids. Or girlfriend, whatever. I'm not—It's..." She did not want to get too far ahead of herself, but now she had drawn attention to it, and the whole thing was getting away from her. So she just stopped with that line of thought. "Why do you even need to talk to him, if not to hear his reasons?"

He thought about that for a moment. "Okay, so I want to hear his reasons, why he gave me away, why he killed my mother. And I kind of want to kill him, too. But I won't kill him because you asked me not to, and his reasons won't change how I feel about you."

"You don't know that until you hear what they are." She felt the need to clarify. "I don't know what they are. I just don't think they could be anything good for us."

"I'm a big boy, Elle. I can handle it. But you can't keep me away from my father. So just tell me where to find him."

It was time for Elle to go with her final, last ditch plan, the real reason she told Peter she would not be coming into work. "Fine, but I'm going with you." She stopped his protest before he could even start. "That wasn't a request. I won't tell you where to find him, but I'll take you there."

"Elle, I'm not going to let you go near a man with the same ability as me who was willing to kill the mother of his own child."

"It's not up for debate." There was a reason that she needed to be there, but she could not talk about it with Peter possibly listening. It was all about the loophole. She got up and headed for the door. She could explain it to him once they were outside, assuming Peter had not bugged her car as well. "Come on; let's go. I'll tell you everything on the way."

He stood, but he did not move from his spot. "So he's close. He's not on Level Five, is he?"

Elle was pretty sure she would have told him if that was the case, since it would have rendered much of the conversation moot, but maybe not. "Yeah," she said sarcastically. "I was just going to walk you into a highly restrictive area of the company without warning you or them. He's close, but he's not that close. He's not even in New York, and that's all you're getting out of me."

Sylar seemed to be thinking of another way to find out his father's whereabouts. Since he knew she had the file in her office, it would not be that difficult for him to find out the address on his own. "Gabriel," Elle said, "this is important to me. After last night, I feel like we're in a really good place, and I don't want to stay here wondering what he's saying or whether you are going to come back. You don't have to worry about his ability. I'll be fine because you'll be there to protect me if it comes to that. Please let me go with you."

Sylar sighed. "Elle." He said her name as though he was talking to an irrational person. "You're pregnant. Yeah, I can protect you, but why put yourself in a position where it might come to that? And how do you think this is going to go down? Because it seems awkward for me to show up at his... residence more than twenty-five years after he gave me away with a pregnant girlfriend in tow."

He had a point there, and yet Elle felt they could work around that. "I don't know. It seems normal for someone in that position to bring a significant other for moral support. Maybe I could explain in the car why this is so important to me." She pointed to the couch and mouthed, "Peter might be listening," cupping her ear at the end to emphasize the listening part of that.

Sylar squinted his eyes in confusion. Then understanding spread across his face, and he nodded. "Yeah, I guess we're just wasting time talking, especially if we need to get to another state." He walked over to meet her at the door.

Elle grabbed up her purse and keys, which were already by the door from when she was getting ready to go to work. She did not want to give him any more chances to argue with her about this, so she hurried out the door and down the stairs to her car. Since Sylar had gone invisible, she just had to assume that he was following her down, which really was not a given. Once she was in the car, Sylar, still invisible, let her know that he was there by touching her arm, nearly giving her a heart attack.

After she pulled out onto the road, he became visible. Elle figured he had been worried about Nathan's spies. Those Petrelli brothers were really an annoyance to her that morning. She was about to explain herself to him, but Sylar spoke first. "So, it was just in the living room, right?"

Elle kept her eyes on the road. "What?" She was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about, but she did not want to jump to conclusions, just in case she was wrong.

"Peter. He only bugged your living room, right?" It sounded like he already suspected that the answer was no.

Elle had not bothered to think much about specific rooms, but Peter knew about things they had only discussed in bed, like Prague. She answered slowly, cautiously. "Actually, there is a very good chance that he bugged other rooms too."

There were not that many rooms in her apartment. Sylar nodded. "Like the bedroom."

"Well, he knew that you did not want Nathan to think you were a rapist, and that's something we talked about--"

"Right after we had sex," he finished for her. That was not what she was going to say, but it was accurate. "Do you think he listened to us?"

"No." Elle really doubted that Peter would do something like that. He did not seem like the type. However, if he had listened to them have sex, it really would not have bothered Elle that much. She lost her virginity to a much, _much_ older man on a security tape that was seen by her father; she was not shy. She did not think reminding him of that would make Sylar feel better. "But if he did, then he knows how incredibly satisfied I am with you, and he's not going to want to get mixed up in trying to take the place of that. So win-win, right?"

Sylar did not respond to that. He was thinking about it, which was exactly what Elle had wanted to avoid. "Listen, if you really want to kill your father, there's a way you can do it."

She knew that she had piqued his interest, but he shook his head. "No, you asked me not to, and I won't."

Elle appreciated that Sylar was trying to be good for her. "I asked you not to because I don't want you getting yourself killed, but there is a loophole. You're allowed to protect your family. In fact, I'm sure Peter expects you to. Basically what Peter said is that you need to learn to only kill people when it's the appropriate response. If you want kill your father, we just need it to be the appropriate response."

"This seems contradictory. Weren't you the one insisting that I needed to change in order to be a good father?"

She was sure she had said that at some point. "If I was, that wasn't what I meant. I never really needed you to stop killing; we've all killed people. I just need to know that you're in control, that you've retained enough humanity that you won't be a danger to the baby."

Sylar chuckled. "Sometimes I forget that you're a sociopath, and that doesn't just go away. You've helped me kill before, and you're still helping." He sighed. "Peter is right. I need to stop feeding the hunger, even if this time is more personal than most. And I don't want to risk either of your lives like that. So is this settled? Can you just tell me where he is and let me go alone?"

Elle shook her head. "I still want to hear what he has to say, and I want you to have options. I'll really be perfectly safe as long as we don't tell him that I have an ability. Besides, he might not be doing it anymore. It's not like the bodies are piling up in New—New England. I just want to be there to help you in any way I can, whether as moral support or in another way."

Elle could see the wheels turning in Sylar's head. "So he's not in New York, and we're headed away from New Hampshire. That leaves one state that's close by."

She did not mind that he had figured out that his father was in New Jersey because she had actually stopped herself from saying Newark. "Yeah, but a lot of people live in that state. Can we just please do this my way?"

Sylar thought about it. "Fine, on one condition, you admit that we're back together and that you're going there as my significant other, not my probation officer."

Elle did not see how she was acting like a probation officer in this instance since she had made it clear that she had no intention of stopping him from killing his father, but she could see how, overall, he might have gotten that impression. She had kind of put him on probation. She hesitated, even though she knew she was going to say it. "Okay, we're back together. But you are still on probation. I need you to get... It doesn't necessarily have to be the superhearing, but here's the problem. The waitress in Texas had an aneurysm; she was about to die anyway. The painter, Isaac was a heroin addict who just shot and killed his girlfriend. The radioactive guy gave his wife cancer and was slightly suicidal after she died. It's not going to be easy with any of them."

She was aware that she was making concessions all over the place, but Sylar wisely did not mention that. "I'm not sure I know what together but on probation means. Can I introduce you as my fiancée? Because girlfriend just sounds... wrong."

Elle wanted to be engaged to Sylar more than anything, but she wanted him to do it right. "As long as you don't think that was a proper proposal. And I should probably have a ring if you really want to sell it." Suddenly a diamond ring appeared on her left hand. She wanted to make sure he knew that it might be good enough for his father, but an illusion ring would not cut it with her. "Wow, it's too bad it's not real."

Sylar looked at her hand. "Not really. That's the ring Peter gave you in the future. Your actual engagement ring will be much nicer."

Elle wanted her proposal to involve roses and violins and whatever else sappy, clichéd, vomit-inducing proposals were supposed to have, but there was something about the simplicity of Sylar's last statement that struck Elle as really romantic. She tried to hide that though. "Probation means that I'm not going to run away with you or agree to marry you until you've gotten one of those abilities back."

She wanted to change the subject again, and since they were getting into the city, she saw the opportunity. "What's the fastest way to the Holland Tunnel?"

–

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**Author's Note:** This is the length of two chapters, but I felt that if I cut it off earlier, some people would be expecting to get to the scene with Sylar's father and be disappointed that there was another chapter of set-up. I've always had problems with pacing, but I think I'm learning.


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's Note: ** I really put off writing this chapter because I was not looking forward to it. It required walking a fine line of changing things and not changing too much. In the end, I made a conscious decision to incorporate some of the lines from the Sampson episode. And just a non-canon reminder from Chapter 22, Sylar actually liked his adopted father.

–

--

**Chapter 44:**

Elle pulled up outside a house in Newark. The sign in front read "Sampson Gray, Taxidermist" and had depictions of large game painted on it. Sylar knew that the last name could not be merely a coincidence. This was his father's house. "He's a taxidermist?"

She hesitated before opening her car door. "I'm sure it's not as creepy as it sounds."

Sylar got out and started for the walk, but Elle took his hand and stopped him. "Just breathe and stay calm. You don't want to provoke him; you just want to talk. Unless you do want to provoke him, in which case, I have your back."

Talk like that worried Sylar. He knew that he could just stop her from going in. He could teleport her miles away and strand her there until he was done talking with his father. That would be the best way to protect his family. Sylar was torn because he wanted to respect her choices, but there had to be a line. "You want to hear this, so I'm going to let you, but promise me that you aren't going to do anything stupid."

Elle was clearly annoyed by this. "I don't do stupid things. I am a highly trained--"

He had not meant to upset her. If she got defensive, she would just get more reckless. "Right, I know that you're more capable than people give you credit for. I'm sorry. But not a word about having an ability. If he asks, you lie. In fact, he may know about the company and paper front, so feel free to lie about as much as possible. Your job, how we met, whatever you say I'll go along with it." He still felt like it would be better if she was not there.

She nodded solemnly. "I can do that." Holding tightly onto his hand, she walked him up the sidewalk. She rang the doorbell and whispered again, "Stay calm."

Sylar did not know what he expected his father to be, but the man who opened the door did not fit his vision at all. He was hooked up to an oxygen tank, and he looked so old, decrepit, pathetic. After all this time, after everything Sylar knew about his father, he was not sure where to start.

Sampson Gray looked them up and down. "I don't need a religion, thank you."

He tried to close the door, but Sylar caught it with his hand. "We're not here about a religion. I'm your son, Gabriel."

"Are you?" Sampson nodded his head a little. "I don't know what you're looking for, but you came to the wrong place." He turned and headed back into the main part of the house, leaving the door open for them. "Well, come on in."

As they walked in, it was difficult to miss the dead and stuffed animals on display all over the house. Elle touched a squirrel with one finger. "It's actually a lot creepier than it sounds," she whispered. Sylar had to agree.

They sat on the couch, and Sampson settled into a worn recliner, next to a much larger oxygen tank. He turned it on and took a deep hit from the mask. "And who is this young lady?"

Sylar was reminded again of how uncomfortable he was having Elle there. "This is my fiancée, Elle. She insisted on coming along." Elle rolled her eyes at this. Sylar did not care about that; he wanted his father to understand that he was not expecting a family reunion. "I'm not here for any kind of father figure. I just want answers."

His father looked at him with yellow, watery eyes, and Sylar saw his future in those eyes. It took him a moment to realize that he would never end up like that because he was not a smoker and he could heal. Sampson coughed a few times. "Are you sure about that?"

Sylar was very sure. "Yes, I want to know why you gave me away."

Elle shook her head with a frozen smile. "No, Gabriel, you don't" He turned his head, confused, but she was looking straight ahead at Sampson. "He's skipping something kind of important." She continued under her breath. "You need to start with that thing you can do, otherwise you're going to sound like a little boy with abandonment issues."

Sylar had no doubt that his father had heard that, nor did he doubt that Elle intended to be heard. He did not know his father or care about his father, but it was still a little bit embarrassing to be talked to like that in front of the man. He did not want his father to think that he had been browbeaten by a domineering woman, especially considering the mother he had grown up with, but he did not want to fight with her just then either. He hated most of all that she was right. People tended to keep their abilities close to the vest around non-evolved people. It was best to get that out of the way right up front. "She's right, I should start by saying that I have an ability, and if I remember correctly, so did you."

Sampson shrugged. "I had lots of 'em."

Sylar sighed. "Yeah, so do I. I take them from people I've killed."

When he said this, Elle closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and took a deep breath. It was really some good acting. Sampson seemed happy to hear about Sylar's ability. "Looks like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."

That was not what Sylar had come for. "I'm not your apple," he said bitterly.

It appeared for a moment that Sampson was going to disagree, but then he looked over at Elle. "Hmm, maybe not." He shrugged. "I don't know you, but I know that for me killing was in my blood. Couldn't stop it anymore than I could stop breathing."

When Elle hung her head at hearing this, Sylar did not think she was acting anymore. That was exactly the kind of thing she was afraid his father would say. Sylar wanted to move on from that troubling news. "Fine. So with that in mind, I want to know why you killed my mother and abandoned me."

"I don't really remember. It was so long ago, and it didn't matter much to me. I think I needed the money."

Elle took his hand and squeezed it. He was not sure whether that was part of the show for his father or out of genuine concern for his emotional state. Sylar did not have time to be upset or angry though; he was more interested in finding out what his father meant about the money. "What money?"

"I sold ya," he said as though he expected Sylar to already know that. "I needed the money, and my brother's wife was so desperate to have a child, after she found out that she couldn't have any of her own. How is Virginia doing these days?"

Sylar had always been reluctant to talk about his mother, but now he wanted to say the words out loud so that his father would know what kind of person he became. "She's dead. I killed her."

Elle gasped and dropped his hand. Sampson raised his eyebrows calmly. "Didn't know about that one?"

"No, I knew. I just--" She turned to look at Sylar. "I didn't expect you to say it like that. It was self defense. Right, Gabriel?"

Sylar did not know why she was reacting like that. "That's what I say."

She looked horrified when he said that, but he always thought she knew there was more to it than just self-defense. "We should leave," she said in a shaky voice. "He doesn't remember. It didn't matter to him. That's all you need to know."

Sylar could tell that she was going to stand next, and he prevented her from doing so. "No, I don't think we're done here yet."

She pulled on his arm. "Please. You're not acting like yourself, _Gabriel._" The way she emphasized his name helped him understand why she was acting so strangely.

Sampson watched this exchange with some interest. "What about you, young lady? You have any abilities?"

Elle dropped Sylar's arm and sighed. "No, I'm just a regular person. I work in marketing for a company that sells hair care products." She gave a slightly hysterical chuckle, as though to say that she did not know how someone like her had gotten caught up in this life. "When I went to Gabriel to get my watch fixed, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn't know I was going to fall in love with someone so... _special_." She said "special" in a bright, false tone, sounding like she was trying to convince herself that she was not making a mistake.

Sylar was not crazy about her choice to come across so hesitant about her decision to marry him, but it was probably the only way a normal woman could possibly handle finding out who he was. He hoped that was still part of the act.

"So you fix watches," Sampson said. "Like Martin. That's good. A man needs a hobby, something to keep the mind from thinking so much." There was a knock on the door, and Sampson got up. "Excuse me. That's probably just the kid from down the street. I'll get rid of him."

As soon as his father was out of the room, Sylar turned to Elle and hissed, "That wasn't all I needed to know. I have more questions for him."

She hissed back. "Right now you are straddling a line between Sylar and Gabriel, and I don't know which side you're going to come down on. And what scares me is I don't think you do either. If you're going to kill him, tell me right now, But if you're not, please don't sit here and listen to any more of this. It's not going to help you. Just remember that you are--" She stopped midsentence, looking at something behind him. "Peter."

Sylar turned around, and sure enough, there was Peter. At first, Sylar was annoyed to see him there, but then he realized that for once, Peter might useful to him. _Get Elle out of here,_ he thought. Peter nodded slightly.

Sampson settled back into his chair. "He said he needed to see Elle."

Elle shook her head at Peter. "No. I'm in the middle of something here."

"Oh, it's okay," Sylar said innocently. "If Peter needs you, you can go with him."

Elle narrowed her eyes at him, but before she could protest, Peter spoke. "I know I told you you could have the day off to--" There was the slightest hesitation. "--make wedding plans, although I'm not sure how a taxidermist figures into that. But there is a problem with Nathan and I can't speak to him on your behalf anymore. I don't feel like this is the sort of thing that should wait." He pulled her to her feet and she reluctantly went with him. "I mean, you know it's important if I drove all the way out to New Jersey to--"

The door closed, and Sylar could not hear any more of what Peter was saying. He was glad that Elle was gone, even if she was with Peter. He would deal with the rest of his feelings about Peter showing up later. Without Elle there, he would be able to speak more openly with his father.

His father was staring back at him with an expression that seemed more astute than before. "Your girl seems nice enough, but there is going to come a day when you can't keep the promises you're making to her. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and you have to kill."

Sylar pushed the thought that he had already killed her once out of his head. "I'm not you."

"We can't be all that different. I know the hunger you feel, Gabriel."

He was going to say more, but the door opened again. A few seconds later, Elle came into the living room. "It turns out I do have to go with Peter." She handed him her keys and leaned down to kiss him goodbye. She whispered in his ear. "I love you. Don't do anything stupid."

Once she was out the door again, Sampson said, "You should probably ask yourself what kind of an emergency there could be marketing shampoo."

"I trust Elle." Peter was another matter, since there was a small possibility he would be able to lie to Sylar by blocking his ability to detect it. So the Nathan emergency might have been contrived, but Elle would not have left unless she believed there was one.

Sampson turned off the oxygen tank and lit a cigarette. "The only thing people are good for is disappointment."

"Is that why you killed my mother?"

He paused for a few seconds like he was really thinking about it, and then he shrugged. "Maybe, I don't really remember."

The last time he said that, Sylar had been distracted by the money and staying good for Elle. But now he was able to focus on the fact that his father was not lying about that. He did not even remember. When he said that killing her and abandoning his son didn't matter to him, he meant it. Sylar felt a rage spreading through his body. One spark of electricity would be all it would take to ignite the oxygen tank and blow up this pathetic man and his pathetic life. And then Sylar would lose everything. "You remember me. You remember the money. Why can't you remember her?"

"I remember that I had a son, and the name Gabriel sounds about right. I remember that Martin and Virginia were willing to pay money to have a kid. I remember being married, more than once. But I don't remember how any of that ended. I don't even remember which one was your mother. None of it matters anymore. Someday, you'll understand."

It was ironic that those were the things Elle had insisted on hearing, so that she would be able to counter them later, but Sampson had waited until she was gone to say them. Sylar still had not heard any actual reasons yet, but he no longer thought there was any chance his father would give him any. "Does it hurt? Dying like that?"

"We all have to die some way."

Sylar stood. "You still don't understand that I am nothing like you. I know my limits and what I'm capable of, and I know that I'm stronger than you. I'm not going to end up in a meaningless life with only dead animals to keep me company. I'm not going to kill and forget Elle. Thanks to cheerleader in Texas, I'm not even going to die. It turns out you were right; you don't have anything I need. Thanks for your time. I won't be coming back." He walked out the door without a glance backward.

Sylar was glad that his father had cancer. It would not have been nearly as easy to walk away like that if he had not known that his father was going to die slowly, painfully, and alone. He did not care if his father was affected at all by the speech he made before leaving. That had not been for Sampson's benefit, but for Sylar's. He needed to say out loud that he was not going to end up like that, and as it turned out, that was all he needed from his father, a reminder of what kind of life awaited him if he could not make this change work.

–


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45:**

The last thing Elle wanted to do was leave that house with Peter, but she knew there was no point in making a scene in front of Sylar's father. She followed him out to the front stoop just to hear him out and get rid of him. There was nothing Nathan was doing that could not wait a little longer.

Peter was babbling something about driving to New Jersey, but he stopped as soon as the door was closed. "Nathan had some time to think about this development, that you slept with Sylar, and he started asking questions about you. So right now, he is at the company finding out things about your relationship and piecing them together. He's already told some people that Sylar's the father of that baby you're carrying."

Elle was starting to understand the emergency. "Why would he do that?"

"He wants to draw Sylar out of hiding. The man killed his parents, and that's all he cares about." Peter left off the part about how they were his parents too.

As an orphan, Elle could maybe sympathize with that, but she and Nathan had discussed this, and she was surprised that he was willing to put her baby at risk like that.

Peter must have know what she was thinking. "Now that he knows what everyone else already knew, that Sylar has a weakness for you, he doesn't believe the baby will be in any danger if Sylar finds out about it."

Elle decided to trust Peter's assessment that it was necessary to start damage control immediately. She could see why Peter could not do it on her behalf. The more he admitted to knowing, the worse it would look. "Let me just give Sylar my keys."

As soon as she walked through the door again, she noticed the lack of talking. She walked into the living room cautiously. "It turns out I do have to go with Peter." The tense atmosphere in the room worried her a lot. She had a feeling the things she needed to hear were already being said. As she handed off her keys, she leaned down to kiss Sylar on the cheek and said, "I love you. Don't do anything stupid."

When she left, neither man said goodbye to her. It drove her crazy that she was going to have to wait until Sylar came back in order to find out how he was going to be affected by it, and that was assuming he would come back. She knew that once she let Peter whisk her away, no one was going to bring her back to this house.

She joined Peter outside. He seemed surprised that she came back so quickly. "Here's what I need from you," he said. "You have to go in there and convince Nathan that there is no conspiracy. You acted completely on your own. I don't think I need to tell you that this whole plan to help rather than kill Sylar was top secret. You and Noah were the only ones who knew about it. No matter what you say to him now, Nathan cannot know that this was my plan."

Peter was right, and he did not need to tell her that. She could see how his willingness to let Sylar live could cause him to lose all the support he had gained at the company up to that point. "I'm on top of it, Peter."

Peter looked around. "Come with me." He led her to the alleyway behind the house. That was the first time Elle really thought about Peter's mode of transportation. He held out his hand, and Elle took it with some hesitation. She had teleported once before, with Sylar, and she was not that keen on the experience. It did have one good thing about it, which was that it was over quickly. Elle closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was in a hallway at the company.

It seemed that the baby did not like teleportation any more than she did because Elle immediately felt nauseated. Since she had just thrown up in front of Peter the day before, she choked back the vomit. Peter asked her if she was all right, and she nodded. "Just pregnant."

"Okay. Well, you should probably take off that—" He grabbed her hand in alarm. "What happened to your ring?"

Elle looked down at her hand. "It wasn't real, just an illusion for his father's benefit." She was kind of sad that the ring was gone. Just like that, her engagement was over.

Peter looked a little relieved to learn that the ring was not real, probably because it meant that he had not lost her engagement ring, and he dropped her hand. "Okay," he said again. "Go tell Nathan whatever it's going to take to smooth over your mistake."

Elle was going to take umbrage at that remark, because she really did not see what mistake she had made. Handling Nathan was not her job; it was Peter's. Fortunately, before she said anything about that she realized that they were standing in the hallways of the company, and Peter could not speak freely. So she just narrowed her eyes at him and headed for Nathan's office.

On her way there, she ran into John Celiano. When he saw her, he slowed down, taking her in with a smirking, almost leering look. "You know, Elle, I always knew you were a slut, but _damn._ Sleeping with the man who killed your father. That is a new low."

Elle took this as a confirmation of Peter's story. She was not going to let John bother her when she had the much more serious problem of dealing with Nathan ahead of her. "Speaking of that, I have a message from Sylar. He wanted me to let you know that he finally got on the company mattress. How do you think he's going to feel when he finds out it was the mother of his child you were talking about?"

John kept smirking, but Elle saw a spark of something resembling fear in his eyes as they flicked down to her stomach. Her goal in saying that was to prevent him from wanting to spread in any way the gossip that she was carrying Sylar's baby. She had no doubt that right then he was thinking it best to keep the information to himself. With her own steely gaze, she pushed past him and continued on her way to see Nathan.

She walked into the office without knocking. There was another agent in with Nathan, but Elle did not let that slow her down. "I thought we agreed not to use my baby as bait."

Nathan nodded to the other agent to let him know he could leave. He waited until the door was shut before speaking to her. "Have a seat, Elle." She did, reluctantly. "What makes you think I'm using the baby as bait?

"Well, I don't think you're spreading the news that he's the father because you just couldn't resist telling a good story."

Nathan leaned back in his chair, assessing her. "Where were you this morning?"

She should have been expecting that question. Peter had not given her a lot of time to figure out what to say to Nathan, and she really had nothing planned. In this situation, nothing even close to the truth would do. "I had a doctor's appointment."

He raised his eyebrows. "And you didn't run that by Peter? He said he didn't know where you were."

"Peter is really laid back about that kind of stuff. I didn't think he'd care if I was late. It's not like I'm doing anything important here. I do paperwork. Besides, Peter's not my boss, right?" She stared back at him defiantly.

Nathan nodded at this. "I think you left out some important parts when you were telling me that story a couple nights ago."

Elle needed time to stall so that she could think of how to make her history with Sylar work for her. She was going to avoid the story of that night for now. "Fine, about a year ago, I pretended to be interested in him and dated him so that the company could get information on him. But if you think that means he isn't going to kill me, it's the exact opposite."

"What about the fact that he _didn't_ kill you?"

Elle thought about correcting that misconception, but that was a piece of her story that not many people knew. Angela had mostly kept that a secret from the rest of the company because raising the dead was a very controversial thing. "Well, he has tried a few times."

Nathan bobbed his head a little. "In the past, but it seems that he's changed his mind about that. I saw the tape of that night."

At first Elle was confused about what night he was talking about. It could not be the night she got pregnant. She realized he meant when Sylar killed Angela. "Good, then you know that he threw me against a wall and kicked me or something." She knew that he had not kicked her, but she wanted to seem fuzzy on the details.

"Mmm." Nathan nodded again. "So I heard that you got really attached to Sylar during that assignment."

It was a little unnerving the way he kept changing subjects like that. He was not letting her have control of the conversation. She felt a little bit like she was being interrogated, but she was not going to let him get the better of her. "You heard wrong. I got attached to Gabriel, but that's not who he is anymore. Do you think that I'm in love with him, is that it? I'm not. I wasn't even then; I just felt bad about what we doing to him. I already told you why I had sex with him that night. I can't stand it when men don't like me. If I wasn't pregnant, I'd probably be hitting on you right now."

Nathan looked her in the eye calmly, encouraging her to go on, but Elle knew that she was already on the cusp of babbling. She kept her mouth shut, but it was difficult not to keep talking. They were locked in a staring match for a least a minute. Finally, Nathan said, "So you don't feel anything for him, but what do you think he feels for you?"

Elle wanted to ask how she was supposed to know, but she guessed if she had sex with the man, she should have some idea what he was thinking. "He hates me. Really hates me, because--" She sighed. "Because I really hurt him. He... He said I used to be special to him and that there was a time when he wanted nothing more than to... know me more intimately, I believe is how he put it. Do you want more details?"

"I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me."

She knew he would answer affirmatively; she just needed a little more time to think up the details. This would have to be the final version, so she really needed to sell it to Nathan. "He said he'd put all that behind him, but after I made the offer, he'd started thinking about it again. He insisted that I could say no and he would leave. And I did say no because I didn't believe him, but he really was going to leave. I stopped him and reminded him that he killed my father and I hate him. And he said, um..." She pretended she was trying to remember. "He said, Oh, make no mistake, you ruined my life. I hate you too.' And as long as we were clear on that, I told him he could stay." Elle really liked that story. It was just off the top of her head, but it really set it up well for when she did finally run away with Sylar.

Still, she knew she had to dial it back, make it clear that this was not some sort of love fest. "All that talk of intimacy and the past didn't really figure into it, though. It was really intense, hateful, a little violent. He threw me around, slammed me against things, pushed and pulled me into..." She got to thinking about it, what he might be pushing her into and slamming her against. She rubbed the back of her neck. "I think that's all the details I want to give."

In that moment, Elle really wanted to get out of there. She wanted go home and have Sylar throw her around a little bit, but then she realized that she should not have sex like that while she was pregnant. Then the memory of where Sylar was and who he was talking to came back to dampen her mood even more.

Nathan was unimpressed. "Why should I believe that any more than anything else you've told me?"

Elle did not see why he would not believe that. "I lied about getting pregnant in Europe because I didn't want you to know that I slept with Sylar. I didn't really want anyone to know. But what would I be lying about now? What's your big conspiracy theory? What do you think is going on here?"

"I think that you got pregnant by a serial killer. A man who tried to kill you, who actually did kill your father and my parents. A man who killed Isaac Mendez, James Walker..." He picked up a stack of files and threw one down on the desk with every name. "Charlene Andrews, Rebecca Finder, Jesse Murphy, Bridget Bailey, Ted Sprague, Sue Landers. Am I forgetting anyone?"

"Yeah." He had actually skipped over a lot of people, ones the company knew about, but he had said enough to make his point.

Nathan looked over at a different stack. "Oh, there are a couple agents that he didn't get anything from. Girls about your age. Let's see, he forced Eden McCain to commit suicide, killed Candice Willmer in Mexico." He nodded thoughtfully. "I can see why you're protecting him."

"Oh, for god's sakes, Nathan! I'm not protecting him." The accusation was not nearly as ridiculous as she was making it sound. "If I ever wanted to protect anyone, it was Gabriel. But I brought him Trevor Zeitlan to kill, just like the company told me to. I helped turn him into Sylar, and given the chance to stop him, I would. But you took me off that case."

Nathan looked incredulous. "Because you slept with him and you're carrying his child. Besides, you've been taken off all field assignments because of your pregnancy."

That was a good point. "I still don't know what I'm doing here, what you want from me. How do I get you to stop using my baby as bait?"

"Right now, I am trying to figure out how to use your history with Sylar to my advantage."

There was something Elle could work with. "That's what I'm trying to tell you; we don't have a history. He's not that guy anymore. When I look at Sylar, I don't see Gabriel. I can't find the man I knew in there anywhere. He's just gone, replaced by a cold-blooded monster that I don't recognize."

"And yet, you still slept with him."

"I really don't know how to get this across to you. That had nothing to do with our history. I didn't tell you about all that stuff that happened before because it wasn't relevant to what happened the night I got pregnant. I didn't sleep with him because of our history, and he didn't--" Elle stopped because she was afraid that she was going to contradict herself. "It might have been a factor for him, but I don't think that he felt anything for me. I don't think he _feels_ anything for me, and I don't think that he's going to care that I'm having his child." She stood. "I don't think any of this is going to help you get what you want."

Because Elle could not think of anything else to say to Nathan, she walked out of the office. Nathan was lost in thought and did not say anything to stop her. She headed for her own office so that she could finish out the day doing her own boring work, even though she was supposed to be in New Jersey with Sylar.

Peter came in behind her and closed the door to the small office, which was hardly ever closed. "That was really good."

"Really?" Elle had not thought that her conversation with Nathan had gone that well at all. Yes, she had handled him, but it seemed like they only went around in circles. She sat down in her desk chair. "I don't feel like I accomplished anything in there."

Peter shook his head. "That's okay. I know what we need to do next, and you set it up beautifully."

She did not know how that was possible when she did not even know his plan. "And what are we doing next?"

"You're running away with Sylar," he said as though it was obvious. "Not right now, because you're clearly not there yet, but in about a week."

Peter was always so sure that she was going to choose to be with Sylar, and he was right. Still, Elle felt that this pronouncement was a little abrupt. "Don't you think I should get a say on that timeline? I have things I need him to do before I'm willing to run away with him."

He nodded at this, but not in a way that comforted Elle. "There's still time for that, and if time runs out, then you'll have to decide whether the superhearing is really that important to you."

It was never about the hearing, but even the empathy was not that important in the long run. Standing her ground, however, was important to her. She had already backed down a lot by saying that he just needed to get back any one of the abilities. There was no way she was now going to say that he did not need to do anything.

"Or whether being stubborn is," Peter added.

She hated when he did that. "Stop reading my mind, Peter."

He shrugged. "I can't help it. It's just so fascinating in there."

Peter opened her office door to leave, but Elle said, "Wait! How am I going to get home tonight? I left my car at... the doctor's office." With the door open, she thought it best to revert to the lie.

It appeared that Peter had not thought about that. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it."

He left Elle wondering how and when he was going to take care of that. He had been a little vague on the plan too. She had a feeling he had more planned there than just that she would run away with Sylar. He had not told her anything about what she was supposed to do about Nathan over the next week. He really had not told her much at all, but he was gone, and this was not the place to talk about that.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

Around four p.m., Elle returned from one of her many bathroom trips to find her keys sitting on her desk and a quickly sprawled note telling her that her car was parked on the street around the corner. While she appreciated having her car back, she was disappointed that she had missed Peter. His having the keys meant that there was a very good chance he had talked to Sylar, and Elle wanted to hear everything that had happened there. She also wanted the opportunity to find out more about what Peter was planning. She had a feeling that he was being cryptic on purpose because he did not think she would like whatever it was.

She went home with a plan of her own, a plan that hinged on Sylar being there. She tried not to worry about what might have happened at his father's house after she left. She told herself that Sylar loved her and was committed to their family and that it was just silly for her to think that one conversation with his father would change any of that. She understood, on a rational level, that he was not his father, but that did not stop her from being nervous as she opened the door to her apartment.

It appeared that he was not there, although she could never really be sure of that. She set her purse on the counter and sighed. That did not mean anything either. It did not mean that he was not coming back or that he had decided that he could not be with her. It just meant that he might not be there right then.

She looked around for some sign that he might have been there, because again, her mind refused to listen to reason. Until she knew something for sure, it would just keep assuming the worst. It took her longer than it should have to notice the post-it note on the television. It said that Nathan had bugged the apartment and told her to put on a DVD, something she had seen before in case Nathan asked about it.

Elle did what the post-it note told her to do because she thought these instructions might have been written in Sylar's handwritting. If not, then she would at least get to find out more about the plan. Since she was fairly certain there was an invisible man there, even if she was not sure which one, Elle prepared herself for anything that might startle her.

The first sign Elle had that someone was actually there was the sound of the floor creaking. Just like the time before, when Noah was there, Elle knew that Sylar had made the floor creak on purpose. She watched the spot as Sylar became visible. Before she could do or say anything, he held his finger up to his lips. He went around her and turned the volume of the television up several more decibels. Then he took her hand and pulled her into the bedroom.

Sylar closed the bedroom door very gently behind them. "Peter swears that he took out all bugs in the bedroom, his and Nathan's," he whispered. "But he had to leave the ones in the living room, otherwise Nathan would wonder why he was getting no sound at all."

In that moment, Elle did not care about any of that; she was just glad he was there. Nathan was an issue that needed to be dealt with, but it was much more important for her to know how things had gone with Sylar's father. She tried to be optimistic. Surely they would not be going through all this trouble if he had decided that he could not stay with her. "What did your father say after I left?" she asked, still bracing herself for the worst, just in case.

Sylar sighed, and Elle knew before he even spoke that she would not be getting details. "He did not really tell me anything I wanted to know, but I found out everything I _needed_ to know."

Elle could have obsessed about what exactly that meant, but he was there, and she decided to let that be good enough. She did not ask if he killed his father because she was sure that she knew the answer. Peter would have told her if Sylar had done anything like that.

There were a lot things they could talk about, but Elle did not feel much like talking. She kissed him urgently, pulling at his clothes and guiding him to the bed. She felt so strongly that she needed to be with him. It had only been a few hours since the last time she saw him, but it felt like so much longer. They had just had sex the night before, but it felt to Elle like they had not been together in ages. She realized then how afraid she had been that he would not be coming back. It felt like forever because she had been unconsciously preparing herself for forever. Now he was back, and she needed to send him away again.

She had thought of a way to make it easier for Sylar to feel empathy for one of his victims, but it required him to leave her, and she hated the thought of that. Pressed close to Sylar with him stroking her hair, it was so comforting and comfortable. Elle did not want to say anything to ruin it, but they only had the span of a movie for talking. "I think you should go to Texas."

Sylar was confused by this reaction, just as she knew that he would be. "What's in Texas?"

"Nothing now, but there used to be a waitress in Midland with an incredible memory. I don't know what Peter told you about his plans, maybe it was more than he told me, but he wants me to be ready to go into hiding with you in a week. And I think that waitress is your best shot at getting one of your abilities back."

He ducked his head down to look her in the eye. "I thought the waitress in Midland was dying anyway."

Elle nodded. She could have taken that as an out and told him to stay, but she needed to focus on the objective, not the distance. "She was, but you were right about her being nice. People loved her, and I bet if you go back to that diner, you'll find the people there are still hurting from the loss. I bet if you mention that you were in town about a year ago and ask if that friendly redhead still works there, they'll let you know exactly what was taken from them. And it'll be a lot more effective than reading reports."

Sylar nodded. "Okay, I'll go to Texas." He was still looking at her face. "You look sad," he observed.

Elle did not mean to look sad. "It's just that I hated it every time you left, and now I'm telling you to go two thousand miles away when you were finally getting used to the idea of staying."

"Actually, I wasn't going to--" He checked himself. "I am used to the idea of staying with you, but with Nathan doing surveillance, I can't stay here for this whole week. So this is good timing. I'll spend a few days in Texas, and for once, you'll know I'm coming back. Although I don't know how I'm going to prove to you that I have an incredible memory. Are you just going to take my word for it?"

It was not that Elle did not trust him, but this was their baby's welfare they were talking about. "You'll find a way to prove it. Learn a language in three days."

She was exaggerating, but he did not bat a lash at the request. "Do you want to choose the language to make sure that I'm not cheating?"

She thought he might be kidding, but it sounded like a good idea. "Sure." She got up from the bed to find her Russian phrasebook. As soon as she located it, she handed it to him. "Come back as soon as you can hold a conversation in Russian."

Sylar flipped through the book. "You speak Russian?"

She sat on the bed. "A little. Ivan taught me."

"Who's Ivan?" There was a false casualness in this that made Elle smile.

"A Ukrainian friend of mine." She was going to leave it at that because she liked making Sylar jealous, but then something occurred to her. "Hey, there's one father figure you didn't kill. Bennet got to him first."

There was a silence as Sylar tried to determine what to make of that. Elle listened hard to figure out how much of the movie was left, but she could not really make out the dialogue. "So you talked to Peter. What did he tell you?"

Sylar blew out his breath. "Not much. He told me about the bugs, about Nathan trying to draw me out, and that we needed to be getting ready to go into hiding. How did everything go for you today?"

Elle was disappointed that he had not told her anything that she did not already know, but she put that aside to answer his question. There was very little that happened with Nathan that was worth repeating, and Peter had probably related the gist of that conversation anyway. She tried to think of something else to say. "Well, John Celiano called me a slut."

Sylar shook his head and rolled his eyes. "One of these days, I'm going to kill that guy."

Elle smiled. She did not really want John to die, and she certainly did not want Sylar to jeopardize everything by killing someone so inconsequential, but she loved hearing him say that he wanted to kill John just to protect her honor. "No, you're not. Think about it from his point of view. He's only heard Nathan's version of the story, so it seems that I had a one night stand with the man who killed my father. That kind of requires me to play up the slut angle." She paused, but she felt the need to make something clear. "Seriously, don't kill him. That's not an appropriate response, and Peter would--"

"Peter." Sylar repeated the name. "He likes to pretend that he's our friend, but he's really...." Sylar did not finish that thought, which was fine because Elle did not need him to. "I think I could take him."

Elle opened to mouth to disagree. Thinking like that would not do Sylar any good. He continued before she could say anything. "I know all the reasons that I can't, but I just find it so hard to believe that he's stronger than me." He shook his head. "I didn't stop killing for Peter anyway. I did it for you and the baby."

She put her hand over her belly, really wanting to move the subject away from Peter. "And we appreciate that. We also appreciate that you haven't mentioned that the weight we've gained is starting to show in all the wrong places."

He set aside the phrasebook. He looked at her carefully, running his eyes over every inch of her, making her very aware of just how naked she was. It made her feel beautiful and self-conscious at the same time. He was just as naked, but he had the sheet to hide behind. Finally he said, "I don't see it."

She ran her hand back and forth over her stomach. "I've just been a little--" She was going to say bloated, but she stopped herself. If he did not see it, why point it out? The weight gain would be undeniable soon enough, and that was not really what she wanted to talk about with her remaining time. "When are you going to leave?"

"When the movie ends." He gently pushed her onto her back and moved over her. He rested his head closed to her stomach so that he could talk to the baby. "Hey there, I told you I could fix everything and make it so that your mother wasn't mad at me anymore. Now, I have to go to Texas, and when I get back in a week, we will be a family."

Elle really liked the sound of that word, family. "Well, I wanted to have sex, but now it's just awkward. It's like baby's right here."

Sylar kissed her stomach. "The baby was always right here." He moved his lips up her body, and soon he was able to make her forget all about it being awkward.

–

Elle returned to work on Monday morning, trying to put the events of Friday behind her. Sylar had gone to Texas, and she was just counting the days until she could expect him back. Nathan was gone too, back to Washington, which made Elle's workday a little less stressful. She knew that it was not any safer for her to talk in her own home, that she could not even call Sylar, but she felt better knowing that Nathan was not personally listening in.

About midday, Noah poked his head into her office. "Hey, Elle, I've been hearing some rumors around the office, and I was wondering if we could talk about them, partner to partner."

She was kind of happy to see him, although she did not know why. "Oh, are we still partners?"

Noah came all the way in. "Not really, but these rumors involve missions we ran together. Specifically the ones having to do with Sylar."

Elle could not imagine anything he could have heard through rumors that he did not already know, so she figured this little conversation was just for show. "You know, I don't know how much I can tell you about Sylar."

Noah was unfazed by this. "That's okay. We can still talk. Want to go to lunch?"

On a normal day, before Peter's secret plans started, Elle probably would have said no to doing anything even remotely social with Noah Bennet. Today, she was not sure if she should accept or not. She looked out the doorway to see if there were any people milling about, but she did not see anyone. She lowered her voice considerably. "Do you?"

"Sure," Noah said in an uncharacteristically amicable way. He gesture at the doorway. "Let's go."

Even after all this time, it still made Elle uncomfortable when Noah was nice to her. She got out her purse. "If you were going to kill me, you would have called it a security breach, right?"

Noah smiled. "Well, you're not working field assignments anymore, so that wouldn't make sense. But I don't know if the company would really go so far as to kill a pregnant woman."

"Even if I'm breeding another Sylar?" Elle had never been able to find the limits on what the company would and would not do. She did not think there was anything the company would do that would surprise her. She understood though that it was the individuals who made up the company, what her father, Arthur, Linderman were willing to do. Thinking about that, she wondered what her father would have done about this if he was still alive, whether he would have been disappointed in her or seen it as an opportunity. She realized that none of this would have happened if he had not died, if Sylar had not killed him.

Noah's response to her question took her by surprise. "Especially if you're having another Sylar. One we could raise in the company, control from an early age. That's what the company has always wanted."

Now Elle saw something they needed to talk about, and she felt much more inclined to have lunch with him. She stood. "You're paying."

In the car provided to Noah by the company, they chatted about pointless things like the weather and Claire's upcoming graduation. Both were aware that company cars were not the safest place to talk.

The ride took forever because Noah drove to the next town over, probably to avoid running into other agents. When they finally got to the restaurant and were seated, he said, "So, I hear you're leaving sometime this week."

When Noah said what he did about her child being raised in the company, Elle had forgotten that she was leaving, that the company would never get the chance to do that. She did not think about the differences between the company she grew up in and Peter's newer, nicer company. She just had a knee jerk reaction. She was relieved to realize that her child would be safe from the company. "That's the plan," she said, without really knowing the plan. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"No, I guess I just wanted to let you know that I talked to Nathan over the weekend. He wanted to hear a firsthand account of what happened between you and Sylar on that first mission. I told him what Peter wanted me to say, which was a slightly different take on it than the one you gave."

Elle was not sure what he could have said differently. "How so?"

Noah shrugged like it was not that important. "Just little differences that would make it seem like you were more attached to him than you let on."

Elle knew better than to ask for details. If he wanted her to have them, he would have volunteered them. It seemed a little extreme to drive for a half hour just to say that. She figured there had to be more. She thought about what she knew of Noah to determine what it could be. "Does it bother you that you don't get to... eliminate him after everything he's done?" The restaurant was crowded and loud, but Elle wanted to err on the side of caution with her word choice. "I mean, why should he get a free pass when he's one of the worst we've ever seen?"

He sat back and sighed. "I've never really understood it, but the company's always been willing to give him a free pass. At least you and Peter are keeping him from killing any more people. Angela gave him one of her own agents to feed his hunger. Arthur gave him you. Sure, he wasn't supposed to kill you, but if he wanted to, no one would have gotten there in time to stop it." Apparently, Noah was not as worried about being overheard.

What he said evoked memories of that day at Pinehearst, which led to memories of a few days later when Sylar did kill her. That seemed so long ago. She thought about it a lot, especially since getting pregnant, but they were really just words at this point. It seemed like a rough spot in their past that they had gotten over and moved on from. As she thought about it, before she came back from the dead, their relationship was mostly rough, but none of that seemed to matter anymore. She wondered what the chances were that they would not just end up hurting each other again in the future. "Do you think I'm making the right choice?" she asked Noah.

"No," he answered quickly. Then he thought about it. "You're not making the choice I want you to make, but it might be the right one for you. And I can see that Peter's way might be the best way to deal with Sylar. It seems to be working better than anything else did."

"What about Nathan's way? Taking him out completely. Isn't that what you've always wanted to do anyway? Why are you following Peter's orders when Nathan's are much more aligned to your vision?"

Noah was quiet for a while, considering this. "I don't like anything about taking orders from Nathan. I don't... I know he's Claire's father, but he's not. I'm her father. I was there... In fifteen years, I want you to think about how you'd feel if another woman showed up and decided that she wanted to be a mother to your child and you had to let her." He shook his head. "And then you have Peter, who is the only one in that family who really... To answer your question, if I had it my way, I would never stop trying to take out Sylar, and I'd probably get myself killed in the process. Peter's way is better, as long as it keeps working."

Elle was a little moved when he talked about Claire and about Nathan showing up out of nowhere, which made her even more uncomfortable. She was finally able to recognize this lunch for what it was, a good-bye. That was when it became clear to her why she was glad to see Noah in her office. Without realizing it, she had wanted the opportunity to say good-bye to Noah, and he must have wanted that too. She wanted to hear him say it. "So why did you really ask me to lunch?"

"Well, you're going to be going into hiding soon, and I've known you since you were..." He held out his hand to demonstrate the height.

"And before I disappeared you wanted me to know...?" she prompted.

Just then, the waiter came with the food. Noah took that as an opportunity to avoid the question. "Just eat your food."

Elle unrolled her napkin and took out her silverware with a smile on her face. Even if he never said good-bye or that he actually did kind of like her, she would know that was the point of this meal, and that was good enough for her. She was not sure whether she would even want to hear the words from him. If he tried to say anything like that, she would probably stop him. There were some things that were better left unsaid.

--

--

**Author's Note:** Believe it or not, this story is almost over.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47:**

Immediately after getting home on Monday, Elle changed into Claire's track pants and flopped down in front of the television to watch whatever came on. The syndicated shows went from one to the next, but Elle did not really notice. She just wanted to kill the time until she was able to be with Sylar again.

After work on Tuesday, she did the same thing, this time keeping her phone close just in case. Surely, it had been long enough for him to get the ability back and memorize a few simple phrases. Wednesday night, she fell asleep on the couch before primetime programming even started. She woke in the middle of the night to the sounds of an infomercial, with the controller in one hand and her phone in the other. No missed calls.

Thurday, the television turned itself on when she walked through the door, which really freaked Elle out at first. Then she realized that it could not possibly do that and that she had a man in her apartment. She walked slowly into the bedroom and waited for him to appear to her.

Sylar was already in the room when Elle got there, probably having come through the adjoining wall. He gestured at the door, and it closed behind her. Then he said something in rapid, fluid Russian that Elle did not understand at all.

At that moment, Elle saw the flaw in her test. Her own Russian skills were less than conversational. It had been years since Ivan taught her what little he did. She shrugged and said one of the few phrases she remembered. " Я не понималa. Я очень плоха понимаю по-русский."

Sylar narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you just say that you don't understand Russian very well?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said. And that mean you do understand it, which is amazing." She put her arms around his neck. "And that means that we are officially, no probation, back together."

Sylar nodded. "It's probably better that you don't know Russian that well, because I'm not quite conversational. I just memorized some phrases from the book."

She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back a little. "But you learned how to read Cyrillic, right? You memorized the phrases with that amazing memory you got from the waitress?"

"Yeah." He said it as a throwaway that did not instill confidence in Elle that he was telling the truth. He sat on the bed. "In fact, it's incredible because there were all these things that I read and learned about philosophy, evolution, everything. And after I woke up in Mexico, it all started fading away. Just pieces that I couldn't remember anymore. Like I could remember the concept of the peak experience, but I couldn't remember the name of the psychologist who coined the term. It's Abraham Maslow; it's just all coming back without me having to learn it again."

Elle watched Sylar's face as he talked about the memories he had lost and regained. She believed that was real, that he had the had the ability back. He did not even seem aware that she had been doubting him. Elle sat next to him on the bed. "Well, now that you're back, we should call Peter and let him know."

Sylar did not appear to be a fan of that idea. "Can't we just have tonight to ourselves, call him in the morning?"

"Yeah, that's fine." It did not matter much to Elle, and she certainly did not want to come across as eager to see Peter. She stuck her thumb between the waist of her skirt and her stomach. The skirt had been cutting into her all day, and sitting there, she could not take it any longer. She knew that it was time to switch to looser clothes, but it was so difficult for her to let go of her waistline. She stood. "I need to get out of this skirt; it's too tight."

"I can probably help you with that," Sylar said with a slight smile.

Elle had not said that to be suggestive. She was just explaining why she was about to change into track pants. However, now that he had put the idea in her head, it seemed like a really good one. She unzipped her skirt and let it drop to the floor. Then she pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. She sat back on her heels and went to work on his pants.

Sylar put his hand over hers. "Do you ever worry that our entire relationship might be based on sex?"

That was something that had concerned Elle from time to time. Other than that week in Prague, which was cut short actually, they had hardly spent any real time together. She knew that there was more to the relationship for sure. They understood each other in a way that no one else ever did. Still, she worried about how well them living together was going to work out. She did not want to let that show though. Doubt was counterproductive at this point. She pushed his hand away so that she could finish taking off his pants. "I would be more worried if it wasn't."

–

In the morning, Elle went into work as usual. Even though her phone had always been in her possession, she could not be completely sure it had not been bugged. She did not want to risk calling Peter and having Nathan overhear what they said, so she was hoping to run into him at work.

After about an hour of work, before Elle had the chance to try to serendipitously bump into Peter, he found her. He came into her office, closing the door behind him. "So he's back."

Elle was a little startled by his statement of that as a fact. "Yes. How did you know that?"

Peter shrugged modestly. "I can tell where people are just by thinking about them. I can read your mind. I have lots of ways of finding these things out. Over the last week, I've been paying attention to where he is. Why Texas?"

Elle smiled, feeling almost giddy. "He was getting an ability back. Enhanced memory."

"Huh." Peter nodded. "I didn't know about that one."

Elle waited for Peter to say something else, but he didn't. She prompted him. "So he's back, and he's done what I asked of him. What's the plan?"

Peter leaned back against the door and folded his arms. "I want to run it by both of you together. And we can't do that here or at your apartment, so I was thinking that when you leave for lunch, we could meet up and the three of us could talk somewhere."

"So are you going to--"

He did that annoying mind reading thing again. "Yeah, you just go wherever you're going to go, and I'll find you, and I'll bring Sylar."

Elle tried to imagine Peter and Sylar in the same room together, which she had just seen the week before. That encounter had been fairly brief, but it was still incredibly awkward. She imagined Sylar would balk at being led anywhere by Peter. "Just remind him that this one act of acquiescence might get you out of his life for good."

Peter seemed confused by this. "Why does he hate me so much? I have never done anything to him except defend myself."

Elle did not really know everything that had gone on between Peter and Sylar, so she was not in a position to comment on that. She still firmly believed that it had very little to do with her, but there was one little tidbit Peter might not have been aware of. "He did have a dream of the future in which he was dead and I agreed to marry you. Oh, and you said that you loved me more than he did. I don't think he hates you; I think he just wants to keep you away from our relationship. In fact, what you should probably say is that it's going to get you out of _my_ life."

Peter had grimaced at hearing about the dream, but he did not seem particularly surprised by it. "I'll keep that in mind," he said as he pushed himself away from the door. He opened it to let himself out. "I'll talk to you later."

–

Elle had trouble thinking of a place where the three of them could have a conversation without having to travel as far as Noah did for privacy. It could not really be a restaurant, so she got herself fast food and sat at a picnic bench in the park.

When Peter walked up, Sylar was not with him. Instead, Peter was with another man who looked vaguely familiar. Elle tried to place where she had seen him before, but it was not coming to her. Until she could figure it out, she just greeted both of them by saying, "Hi."

The other man slid onto the bench next to her. Apparently realizing that she did not know who he was, he held out his hand. "I'm James. I've been to Calgary."

"Oh!" That was where she had seen him, the bar in Brooklyn. Elle should have realized that Sylar was not going to be walking around Hartsdale, looking like himself.

Peter sat on the bench across from them. "It's not that much of a plan; it's basically that you're going to go away together. We just need to give Nathan a reason for that. So I want that decision to be made on tape, and..." He hesitated and then took a couple folded papers out of his pocket. "This is what I want you to say."

"You wrote us a script?" Elle glanced at it and then pushed it back across the table. "I think we can handle it, Peter."

He pushed it back at her, and Sylar picked it up to read it. "It's not a script," Peter said. "It's just some guidelines, points I want you to hit. I'm really sticking my neck out for you two, and I need to make sure that you do this in a way that will convince Nathan that there was nothing else going on. Because you might not believe this, but Nathan is really smart, and he'll see through it if you're just going through the motions."

"This really isn't that bad," Sylar said to her. "We can do this."

Elle reached for the papers, and Sylar handed them over. She skimmed the beginning. It was a loose script, so she was right about that, but she figured if Sylar was okay with it, there was no reason for her to complain. "Okay, how do you want this to go down?"

Peter raised his eyebrows a little, as though he was surprised by the ease of her giving in. "Well, it would take place in the living room so that Nathan could hear. I believe he'll be at the company tonight, so if it works for you, you could do it then. I need to know the general time to make sure he's listening at the right moment and so that I'll be there to remind him that he'll get himself killed if he tries to do something. But if you do it tonight, you need to be ready to leave immediately after, just walk away from everything."

Elle nodded. "That's fine." Everything in her apartment was just stuff that she had recently acquired. Anything that had sentimental value had been disposed of by Angela after Elle's death.

"One more thing," Peter said. "You only have one chance to do this. It's live, so you might want to rehearse it in your room beforehand. I like how you've been leaving the television on everyday so that it doesn't send up red flags when Sylar's there. But whether you rehearse or not, there's just one shot. You have to go with whatever happens."

While Peter was talking, Sylar had been eating Elle's food. He swallowed and said, "Okay. We'll be ready tonight."

Peter nodded and got up from the table. "I'll let the two of you discuss it. Just have Elle let me know for sure before she leaves for the day."

Elle watched him leave and then turned to look at Sylar sitting next to her, which she had not really done since he sat down. She was aware that he was not going to look like himself, but it was still unsettling to see "James" there. She pushed past that. "Do we have anywhere to go if we leave tonight?"

"Yeah." Sylar took another fry. "I've taken care of everything." He reached for the pages. "I should take these. You don't want to be caught at work with them."

Elle initially found it unlikely that anyone at work would go through her purse or desk, but it really was a possibility at this point. She handed over the pages, and Sylar put them in his pocket. While he was doing that, she moved her food farther away from him.

Even if it would mean having to share more of her lunch, and even if she had to look at "James," Elle would have loved to spend her break with Sylar, but it was not the best idea for them to be seen together. "You came with Peter, we probably shouldn't spend too much time talking alone, in case anyone's watching me."

"Well, do you have any problem doing this tonight?"

Elle was tired of being stuck in limbo. She was looking forward to a time when things would be much more straightforward. "No, as long as I get a chance to look at the script first."

Sylar pressed his hands against the table and stood. "I might tweak the script. No matter how much he gets inside our heads, I think I have a better idea how to make this realistic for us than Peter does." He waved at her. "Bye, Elle. It was great seeing you again. Maybe we could do this again sometime."

Elle smiled. "Calm down, James. My slutty days of hooking up with guys I meet at bars are behind me."

He looked her up and down, as much as he could with her seated at a picnic table. "Mmm, that's too bad."

Elle watched him go, thinking of all the things she could and would eventually do to that man. Four more hours of paperwork and she was all his for the rest of her life. That was an exhilarating and terrifying prospect.

–

Having gotten the go ahead from Elle, Peter waited after hours at the company for Nathan to show up. He knew that over the weekend Nathan had some sort of event in the city that involved pandering to his constituency. He believed that, since he was already in New York, Nathan would want to stop by the company to maintain as much of a presence as he could and monitor the surveillance he was running. Peter wanted Nathan to hear the conversation unfolding live, but if he did, it was necessary that Peter be there with him to make the situation easier to control.

Once Nathan did arrive, Peter talked with him in the office under the guise of appraising Nathan of developments at the company, most of which were relatively trivial. He managed to stretch out the conversation until word came that that something was going down at Elle's apartment. Nathan rushed to the control room with Peter behind him.

The first thing they heard was Sylar say, "I hear congratulations are in order."

"Thanks," Elle said warily. After a beat, she added, "You can go now."

"Have you told the father?"

Peter noted that they were already off script, which was fine as long as they knew what they were doing.

She answered slowly. "No, he's not actually going to be involved."

Nathan made a move to leave the room, but Peter grabbed his arm. "You're not going there," Peter said. "He'd kill you without a second thought. Let's just see how she handles this."

"Hmm," Sylar's arrogant voice came from the speaker. "I know if you were carrying my child, I'd at least want to know."

"I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever carrying your child."

"He could kill her!" Nathan hissed.

Peter shook his head. "You should have thought of that before you spread word that he was the father. If it sounds like anything is going to happen, I can be there in a second, but right now it's better to let Elle deal with him."

While Peter was talking, they missed something, but it did not seem to matter. "Fine, technically, you are the father," Elle said, exasperated. "Okay, so now you know, and you can leave me alone."

"That's not what's going to happen," replied Sylar. "I want to be involved." Nathan raised his eyebrows at this and gestured for Peter to do something. Peter ignored him.

"No. Just because you happened to be there when I got pregnant, it doesn't mean anything. It was just a one-night stand."

"It was a little more than that. It was a one-night stand with the only woman I ever really cared about. And it resulted in a pregnancy." With that, Sylar hit the first of the points that were important to Peter, that he cared about her.

"The only woman—You're crazy! You tried to kill me! Whatever you might feel, I don't have any feelings for you at all. I just took pity on you because no woman in her right mind is ever going to let you touch her, you horrible, crazy... psycho!"

There was a brief silence before Sylar spoke again. "Okay, I was there that night, _and_ I know when you're lying to me. So it wasn't pity, but the rest of that was fair. Of course, you're a little crazy, too. When you get mad at someone, your first reaction is to threaten to kill them, and just as often as not, you do kill them. I think a woman like you needs to be with a guy who's psychotic."

Elle sputtered. "Are you—But—Okay, that's... one thing, but you murdered my father."

"Yes, and I am so sorry about that."

"He's lying," Peter murmured just to stay involved in the conversation. On a personal level, Peter found it a little interesting that Sylar was unable to truthfully say that he was sorry for killing her father.

Sylar continued. "I think since you're pregnant, we should try to make peace." Making peace was another point Peter wanted them to hit. "I didn't kill him to hurt you, and I'm sorry it had that effect. Your turn."

Elle sighed heavily. "Fine, I'm sorry I ruined your life, even though I was just following orders."

Peter could almost see Sylar roll his eyes. "Close enough."

No one said anything for several seconds after that, and Peter took the opportunity to speak. "Well, I'm pretty sure he's not going to kill her."

Nathan was standing in a corner with his arms crossed. It looked like he wanted to say something, but then they heard Elle's voice. "So because I got pregnant, you want us to be a family now? That's really messed up, Sylar."

"Look, Elle, if I want to be in this child's life, there's really nothing you can do to stop me."

"We can stop him," Nathan whispered.

Peter just shook his head and held up a finger to keep Nathan from talking over them. He had a feeling they were finally getting to the important part.

"So this is all about the baby? You're going to go back to trying to kill me after it's born, right?"

"No, Elle, if I was here for the baby, I would have waited seven months and taken it then." That was a line Peter had written, and it sounded even better the way Sylar said it. "This is about both of us getting a second chance at a family."

"You killed my--"

Sylar did not let her finish that. "It doesn't have to be like this, Elle."

"Like what?"

"We don't have to hate each other. Yes, I killed your father, but I also gave you a child."

Peter liked the way the twisted logic of that implied that they were even on that point. He wondered if Elle actually thought that evened things out.

"That was a fluke," Elle said.

"Or it was fate."

Elle paused. "Okay, so how is that going to work? I continue working for a company that's trying to kill you, and you just drop by here whenever you want and take the baby?"

"You could leave the company and go with me."

Elle laughed incredulously. "I don't think we've made that much peace. Or do I even have a choice about this?"

Sylar groaned. "Yes, you have a choice. If I have been clear on one thing, it's that I don't want to force you to do anything. I want you to--"

She interrupted. "You don't really hate me, do you?"

He sighed, and it took him a moment to answer. "For the longest time, I had very mixed feelings about you. I definitely hated you, but I also really liked you. And recently, that balance is coming down firmly on the liking you side. I think I might... I think I might be in love with you."

Peter had wanted Sylar to use the word "love" at some point. He watched Nathan's reaction to this pronouncement now, and it seemed to land with exactly the right weight. He had to give them credit; they were doing a pretty good job with it.

"Wow," Elle said, sounding stunned. "Because I got pregnant?"

"No," he replied thoughtfully. "It was before that. I think it really started in Angela's office. And I wouldn't have even shown up here that night if—If I still hated you, I would have tried to kill you that night. But I can assure you that I did everything I wanted to do to you that night."

Elle laughed, but then she cleared her throat. "Be that as it may, there is far too much bad blood between us for us to be able to live together and raise a child. I mean you say that you love me, but that's not—but what do I do when the balance shifts back to you hating me?"

Peter felt the need to interject something again. "Okay, right there, she wants him to convince her that it could actually work out."

Nathan moved to the center of the room. "So you're going to let her go with him? I thought you two were... close."

Peter wanted to respond to that, but first he wanted to hear how Sylar dealt with the shifting balance. "This changes everything. The scales will never be the same. You're no longer the woman who ruined my life; you're the mother of my child."

"That's very little comfort considering that you kill your own mother."

Peter wanted her to stop fighting Sylar. This was difficult and drawn out, but Peter supposed it had to be. He was the one who insisted that they could not make it seem too easy. "We're not 'close;' we're just a little friendly, and you've been warning me away from her for weeks. If she goes with Sylar, she won't be trying to get me to raise her child."

He talked over the part where Sylar claimed that killing his mother was self-defense. Nathan shook his head. "I don't understand you, Pete. Why would you--" He stopped to hear Elle speak.

"All right, here's the truth. I really liked you back then too." Her tone had changed. She no longer sounded hostile. "I didn't want to hurt you or ruin your life, but at the time, it was just more important for me to follow orders."

"And now? Because I think you're orders are to kill me." He did not sound worried.

"Yeah, those are the orders, but I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to, and I'm not so sure I want to anymore. I definitely don't want to have to tell my child that the reason he or she doesn't have a father is because I killed him. And it's really tempting to go away with you. If I stay here, this baby will have the same kind of upbringing that I had, and that does not appeal to me at all. I really like the idea of giving this baby a nice norm—sort of normal childhood, a stable family. But that's not you. And then on the other hand, I... I might not hate you anymore either. I think you had a good point about a guy like you being well suited for me. I don't think I'd even be hesitating right now if you hadn't killed my father. I'm definitely the kind of woman who could fall for a serial killer, and then for you to claim that you love me... I have waited my entire life for a man to claim to love me, and it doesn't surprise me that it would be a man like you because I think we might be perfect for each other. But I have this nagging feeling that I should be holding out for a nice man, someone not psychotic. But I'm not sure whether I'd really want someone like--" She stopped talking abruptly.

"What was that?" Nathan asked. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Peter said.

The man at the desk turned around. "It's not technical. We're still getting a signal."

Nathan gave Peter an accusing look. "Great, he killed her."

That was a ridiculous leap to make, Peter did not think that Nathan really believed that. "He did not kill her. That wouldn't make any sense. He wants that baby. He might have been lying about being sorry he killed her father, but the rest of it was true. He has no reason to kill her." Peter tried to think of why they would suddenly stop talking. "Maybe he kissed her. Yeah, she's so close; he just wants to push her over the edge."

Nathan and Peter stood there in silence until finally some sound came from the speakers. "Someone like what?" Sylar asked.

"Um..." Elle seemed to have lost her train of thought. "Like Peter. I don't think I want to be with someone like Peter."

Nathan looked at Peter, and Peter tried to shrug it off. That definitely was not in the script.

Elle continued. "I've thought about it, trying to seduce him. He is normal and stable and all those other things I said I wanted. We could be a perfect little nuclear family, but he's just so _good._ He's all about helping people, and... God, it would just be so exhausting to have to pretend for the rest of my life that I'm a good enough person for him, when, in reality, my true nature is something much closer to yours. I have killed people just because they made me mad. Why would I want to raise my child to condemn everything that its biological parents stand for?"

"Probably because you don't want him to end up becoming a serial killer like his father."

"Oh, that's a good point," she said slightly sarcastically. "Murder is bad. That's definitely something I want to impart onto my child. Do you think that's a lesson he or she could learn having you as a father?"

"Well, I wouldn't have killed anyone if it hadn't been for this ability. You're the overindulged sociopath with no excuses. So, yes, I think I can do at least as good a job as a father as yours did."

To Peter, it seemed like the wrong time for a low blow like that, but apparently Sylar knew Elle better. After only a short silence, she said, "Okay, I might be crazy, but I think we should try it."

That was all Peter needed to hear. He reached over and turned off the transmission. "There you have it. No point in listening in on their private conversation anymore. She's going to go with him, and I'm going to let her."

He tried to leave the room, but Nathan blocked his way. "What happened to trying to kill Sylar?"

"Have you ever even met Sylar?"

From the way he shook his head, Nathan did not seem to think that mattered. "Not really, but I know enough to know that he needs to be eliminated."

Peter managed to sidestep his brother, and he stood in the doorway. He thought about how to explain this to Nathan. "I'm not so sure about that anymore. Do you realize that he hasn't killed anyone since that night he slept with Elle?"

"Why should that matter?"

The question took Peter by surprise, and he really thought about it. That was when Peter saw that, while he felt bonded to Sylar in an almost fraternal way, he had other reasons for not wanting to kill Sylar. He could just focus on those. "I'm the only person here who is even remotely equipped to fight Sylar. You can give all the orders you want, but if he has to die, then I'm the one who has to do it. And even with all my abilities, I've lost to him more than I've won. I don't like that he's going to get away with killing all those people, especially Ma, but it's not worth the risk to me, unless it's necessary to save lives. And that's why it matters. That's I've been paying close attention to make sure that he hasn't been killing anyone. I'm not going to kill him merely as a form of punishment, only if it's necessary to stop him from doing it again."

Nathan tried to say something, but Peter held up his hand. "No, the conversation's over. That's my position on Sylar. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not going to have anything to do with it." He turned and left the control room. As he did, he heard Nathan give the order to turn on the transmission, but Peter did not wait to hear what else Sylar and Elle would say.

--

--

**Author's Note:** There are a few things I wanted to comment on: One, Elle's Russian should translate as "I didn't understand. I understand Russian very poorly." It might not have been entirely grammatically correct, and if not, I'm saying it's intentional. (It's close.) Two, I'm taking a death penalty class and it occurs to me now that Peter's whole attitude could be explained by him being against the death penalty as a means of retribution. And as a nurse, he might have a stronger bias toward rehabilitation, and the point is that I really spared you a lengthy conversation between Peter and Nathan on their differing views of valid uses of the death penalty.

Three, when I write, I always think about how the scene would happen if I had done things differently earlier on. Basically, in my head, I'm constantly writing AUs to my stories. This story, because of the dreams and the lying, allows me to do even more of that and subject you to that. One of the reasons this took so long was that I was trying to avoid having the last scene be too gratuitously alternate. I did that by framing it in Peter and Nathan's perspective, which made it so much more difficult to write.

One more chapter and an epilogue!


	48. Chapter 48

**Author's Note:** Apparently, it's been a month. I'm so sorry, but I literally hated everything I wrote. And since this is the last chapter (other than an epilogue) it was harder to let things slide.

--

--

**Chapter 48**

Elle and Sylar had gotten a general idea of where their conversation would go, but they felt that it was best (and less work) to come up with the words and details in the moment. That way, what they said would not sound canned or rehearsed. Finally, Elle felt that they had dragged it out long enough, and she was able to give in to him. "Okay, I might be crazy, but I think we should try it."

The second Elle said those words, Sylar gestured to the bedroom and said "Pack quickly."

Elle had already resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to leave most of her stuff behind, but she had underestimated how difficult that would be. Even though everything was new, those things had still become a part of her home and her life. As she swept toiletries into a bag, Elle paused to consider the option of ripping down her shower curtain and taking it with them. She wanted to have just one piece of furnishing or decoration from this place. It was her first real home as an adult, the place where she discovered she was pregnant, and the place where Sylar assured the baby and her that they would be a family. It was not as easy to walk away as she thought.

Sylar came in to find her struggling with the hooks on the shower curtain. "Leave it."

It would take too long to explain about the apartment and how a shower curtain was smaller than furniture and less breakable than a lamp, so she just said, "No. You get this down, and I'll finish packing."

They needed to give Nathan a believable timeline, so Elle had not pre-packed, but in the time between coming home and staging the conversation with Sylar, she had gotten a headstart by laying out the clothes she wanted to take. It did not take her long now to gather them up and stuff them in the open suitcases. "There's room left in here for it if you fold it," she called to Sylar.

Sylar brought in the curtain, half-folded, half-wadded up, with the hooks still attached. Instead of commenting on his folding skills, Elle stuffed it down as best she could and sat on the suitcase to make it zip. She sighed because the packing was done and it was time to leave.

--

Driving her car, Sylar set out west. He would not tell her where they were going, only that he had already taken care of renting a place to live. He drove all night, and Elle fell asleep halfway through Pennsylvania. When she woke up in the morning, they were parked in the driveway of a modest house in a nice neighborhood. She stretched and looked around to try to figure out where they were, but based on the scenery, they could have been anywhere in the country.

Sylar was in back of the car, pulling her luggage out of the trunk. He came around to see that she was awake and opened her door for her. "Welcome to your new home."

Elle stepped out of the car and looked around some more. "And just where are we?"

He put his arm around her, treating her like she was much more pregnant than she actually was, and guided her into the house, leaving the luggage in the driveway. "We are in a quiet town just north of Cincinnati."

Elle smiled. He had taken her back to Ohio. Before going to the company, she had grown up in the suburbs of Cincinnati. She did not say anything about that now because she assumed Sylar already knew, even though she had never talked about her childhood with that level of specificity.

She walked through the sparsely furnished house. It was a three bedroom, two bath with a slightly outdated kitchen. Elle thought it was perfect. "When did you buy this?" she asked Sylar as he brought in the luggage.

He closed the door behind him gently. "Actually, I didn't. It's a rental. This return to Ohio may end up being more symbolic than anything else. I don't really know how much effort Nathan is going to put into tracking us down once he finds out that Peter is not going to help him... deal with me. Then we will find out how deep into hiding we need to go. Right now, we're not very deep. I'm going to change the tags on your car, but other than that, we're going to try the lightest cover we can get away with. Because there is going to be a child involved and they are not known for their ability to keep secrets."

There was a lot more explanation in that than Elle needed just then. She got the feeling that he was worried he may have misled her about Ohio, but it was really symbolic for her too. She had no real attachment to the state anymore. "Okay," she said with a smile. "When did you rent this though?"

"Oh." He looked a little relieved. He sent the bags on to the bedroom telekinetically. "After I left Texas, while I was learning Russian. I was pretty confident at that point that you would be running away with me."

"Well, it's great, and I love it." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

He smiled back at her. "I'm going to go set up that shower curtain you were so insistent on having."

Elle was going to follow Sylar back to the bedroom, maybe try out the new bed, but there was a knock on the door. She went over to answer it and found a plump, middle-aged woman carrying a basket of muffins.

"Hi," the woman said with a bright smile. "I'm Karen Masterson from next door, the house on the left. I saw your car in the driveway, and I wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood." She held out the muffins to Elle.

Elle was just a little taken aback. This kind of thing had not happened when she moved into her apartment in Hartsdale,. She juggled the muffins in her arms and held out her hand. "Thanks, I'm Elle."

Karen did not shake Elle's hand but clasped it between hers. "Oh, I know. I met your husband a couple days ago when he was setting up the place. You are going to love it here; it's a great place to raise a family." Karen gave a small nod at Elle's stomach to signify that she knew about the pregnancy. "There'll be lots of kids for your little one to play with, and we have great schools, and there's a very nice park just down the street."

Elle was still a bit overwhelmed by this woman. "Well, we're not really sure if--"

Karen dropped Elle's hand and waved her own. "I know this transfer is just temporary for now, but Gabriel said there might be a permanent position opening up for him at the company."

Elle was glad that Karen had interrupted her because she would not have wanted to contradict the tale Gabriel had weaved for this woman. Karen seemed like she really wanted them to stay even though she hardly knew them. Somehow, she managed to do this in a friendly, non-creepy way. Elle just nodded now. "Right. It sounds like you're up to speed." She did not know what else she was supposed to say.

Karen looked behind Elle and waved. Elle looked back to see Sylar. "Hi, I brought muffins, and now I am going to leave you two to get settled in your new home." Karen looked back at Elle. "You are going to love Ohio."

Sylar and Karen waved and said goodbye to each other, but Elle was a little too stunned by Karen to say anything before Karen was halfway down the driveway. She called out, "Thanks again for the muffins," and closed the door. "Wow."

"Yeah," Sylar took a muffin from the basket. "You can't beat that Midwestern hospitality."

Elle set them precariously on the couch. "So you're telling everyone that we're married now?"

Sylar swallowed what he was eating and said, "Yeah. I know that I never actually proposed. Sorry." He held up a finger and went into the bedroom. He came out carrying a ring box and sank to one knee. "Elle, right before I met you, my life took a crazy, violent turn. And then you came into my life, and you were a bright spot in an otherwise dark time. And when I lost you, I went deeper into that horrible life. I did things that I never thought you would be able to forgive me for. Just the fact that you are still here with me is a miracle, and I don't want to lose you again." He opened the box. "Will you marry me?"

Elle put her hand over her mouth. She knew that he was painting over their early relationship and making it sound like something it wasn't, but that just made the proposal better. When he put that fake ring on her finger for his father's sake, she had thought about the kind of proposal she wanted, but she had never realistically expected roses or violins. She decided that all she needed was for him to say the words and give her a real ring. A speech like this was not Sylar at all, and Elle really appreciated the effort he was putting into making it romantic, especially when there was no chance she would say no. "Yes," she breathed.

He slipped the engagement ring onto her finger and stood. "Now, I was thinking that since neither of us have any family or friends, there's really no need to have a ceremony, because we have no one to invite."

He was right about that, and it made Elle sad. "Okay, so what do you want to do? Go to city hall and..." She trailed off. That sounded so depressing.

Sylar shook his head. "I don't see any reason to involve a judge. I think we should just have a quiet, private ceremony right here, right now." He took her hands in his. "Elle Bishop, do you take me, Gabriel Gray, to be your not quite lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health..." He seemed unsure of the words and skipped to the end. "Til death do us part?"

This seemed slightly wrong, but on the other hand, neither of them really lived within the bounds of the law anyway. It did seem more appropriate to do this here than with people they did not even know. "I do. Do you, Gabriel Gray, take me, Elle Bishop, to be your law—not so lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health..." She knew what came next, but she was not sure whether it was fair to make him vow to more than she had. Of course, Sylar would never get sick anyway. She pressed on. "...for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, as long as we both shall live?"

It looked like he was really thinking about what she had asked. After a second, he responded, "I do."

Elle took a step closer. "Well, then you may kiss the bride."

"Wait." He held up his left hand to keep her from kissing him, and with his right, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two gold bands. "First, we have to exchange the rings."

Any lingering misgivings she had about this "ceremony" left Elle when she saw that he had procured wedding rings, that he had actually planned this. She took the larger ring from his hand and slid it onto his ring finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."

With the remaining ring, Sylar reciprocated. Then he put his arms around her, pulling her close. "_Now_ I can kiss the bride."

--

--

**Author's Note:** I want to thank everyone who read and/or reviewed. (Hopefully everyone who reviewed read it too.) Everyone has been really great and made this a very rewarding experience. There is still an epilogue, but it may be another month before that happens because I'm going on vacation for the next couple weeks. Which is why this chapter had to happen now or you would have had to wait forever for one measly chapter. The epilogue will be a collection of scenes from the future, so if there is something you want to know, feel free to ask. (If I don't answer it there, I'll respond one on one.)


	49. Epilogue

**Author's Note: **I hope this was worth the wait. (I guess Sylar's mother wanted him to be an investment banker, but that's a tricky area nowadays. Stockbroker is the same line of work, because it's finance and economics. Just go with it.)

--

--

**Epilogue:**

Her second week there, Elle confessed to Karen from next door that she had only stopped working just before the move and did not know anything about running a house or raising children. Karen had four children and a husband of seventeen years, and she seemed like the right woman to ask for advice. Karen's advice was to start at the beginning. Take everything one step at a time and prepared for a learning curve, especially when it came to their first child.

For Elle, the beginning was peach pie. She wanted to learn how to make that. Karen provided a recipe and helped Elle get the groceries, but she clearly found the starting point a little ambitious. As they set out the ingredients, Karen asked why peach pie.

"Peach is Gabriel's favorite." Elle did not know if that was necessarily true or just something he said to be nice, but he did eat a lot of it that first day. "When we first met, I, uh, bought one and passed it off as my own. I guess he always knew, but... I think it would be nice if I could learn to make one for real."

Karen smiled and handed Elle the measuring cup for the flour. "What does Gabriel do?"

For a second, Elle had to remember that he was not a watchmaker anymore. The name and the memories of the peach pie had momentarily confused her. "He's a stockbroker." He had faked credentials and gone into the line of work his mother always wanted him to. It turned out he had an aptitude for it. He understood how things worked, and that extended to the stock market. It helped that he was able to engage in untraceable insider trading thanks to his invisibility, phasing, and illusory ability. From what Elle understood, he was quickly living up to the reputation he had created for himself.

Flour done, Karen started on the next part of the crust. "So is your family still in New York?"

That was an deceptively difficult question for Elle. She still found it so hard to believe that they had no family. She had not had much family for a long time, but she grew up in a large facility, constantly surrounded by people, and now the only people she had in her life were Gabriel and this child. Her hand went instinctively to her belly. Not that she was complaining. "No, that's one of the reasons we left. We were both only children and, um, our parents are all... gone, so there's just no family left for either of us."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear." Karen patted her on the shoulder, which Elle found oddly comforting.

Elle gave a brave smile, but she started to think about the life she had left behind, the only one she had known. Nothing from that old life translated into this one where they were an unremarkable stockbroker and housewife. She could tell Karen about the pie, but there was not much else from their history that she could talk about. She could easily lie about it; making up a new story was not the problem. She just did not know if she could really live the rest of her life cut off from that world.

–

Sylar had always intended to contact Peter, thank him for his help, but he never really got around to it. At first, there was so much to do to set up this new life and establish himself at work. Then there was the need to be wary, cautious, make sure Nathan was not going to be a problem. Besides, if Peter wanted to talk to them, he could easily find them. Sylar might have kept putting it off indefinitely if Elle had not called Peter herself and invited him over to dinner.

It was a Friday night when she was about six months pregnant. She did not tell Sylar that she had invited Peter, and when he knocked on the door, Elle got that same "Oh, right, I forgot," look on her face as she had when she invited Trevor over to his apartment a couple years before. Sylar supposed she thought he would try to talk her out of it, which is exactly what he would have done.

Recently, Elle had become a little preoccupied with the fact that they had no family besides each other. Sylar could tell from things she had said that Elle had this belief, whether actively or subconsciously, that Peter was going to be Uncle Peter to their child. He knew where she would have gotten that idea, from Sylar's own visions. Sylar just did not think that he would ever feel comfortable enough around Peter to think of him as part of the family, although he was willing to give it a try for Elle's sake.

Sylar needed to remind himself that Peter and Elle had almost no romantic history. Other than one kiss and what Sylar told himself was light flirting, they had never been intimate. It seemed that there was more, but those were visions and dreams. If Peter had ever really wanted to raise the child, or would ever want to, that was because he loved the kid, not the mother. Still, it was a little awkward.

It was made more awkward by Elle asking Peter to be their child's godfather, which was not something they had discussed at all. Peter looked between the two of them and said, "Maybe you should talk to Gabriel about that first."

Elle shook her head. "No. It was his idea. To have the child baptized. And you're the only person we know, and you're Italian, so I figure you must be Catholic, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I haven't been to church in..." He shrugged.

"Great." She was purposefully avoiding Sylar's eyes. She knew that he would not fight with her in front of Peter. "So will you do it? Baptism is important to Gabriel because he's very religious." That sounded a little sarcastic. "And I feel that if I'm going to start trusting someone with the baby's immortal soul, what's important to me is that it be to someone I know."

That did make sense, and Sylar had no other candidates in mind for godfather. In fact, he had not really thought about the godparent portion of the baptism. It was a nominal title anyway, and it did not actually require Peter to do anything or give him any rights. All it would really do is make Peter a little closer to being family. Sylar nodded. "You don't have to decide right now, but at least consider it."

Elle smiled broadly when she realized that Sylar was endorsing her pick for godfather. She got up from the table, supporting her back. "I made pie," she said, and she went into the kitchen.

Sylar would have helped her, but Elle had a very traditional notion of hostess. He took a sip from his glass. He wanted to change the subject. "She's been really working on learning how to bake. Her first pie was terrible, but she's gotten a lot better."

Peter leaned forward. "Do you really want me to be your son's godfather?"

Peter would know if he lied, so Sylar thought through his response. "Yeah. With your impeccable moral compass, you would know more about protecting a soul than either of us. I think you're the perfect person."

Elle came out with plates, forks, and a pie, and she did not drop anything. "Good news," Peter said. "I've decided to accept. I'll be your kid's godfather."

–

Elle was not oblivious to the fact that Peter and Gabriel thought she was having a boy. She insisted that they, especially Gabriel, stay open to the alternative, but they thought they knew better because of their dreams. Gabriel and Elle never discussed girls' names, but Elle knew that she was having a girl, and she knew what she wanted to name her.

Gabriel agonized over boys' names. Not naming the child Noah would not mean that it wasn't the same kid from the visions. And if it's the same kid, he already had a name. Eventually, when he finally decided, Elle agreed that Noah was a fine name and bided her time until she delivered a beautiful baby girl.

Elle held her daughter, scrubbed clean and wrapped in a sheet. She was too mesmerized to be tired. The baby was tiny, yet impossibly big, considering where she had come from. She had ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. She had a tuft of dark hair and bright blue eyes. "She has my eyes," Elle whispered.

"All babies have blue eyes," Gabriel replied in a very soft, reverent tone.

"No." Elle shook her head. "Those are mine. I can tell."

The baby made a tiny fist around Gabriel's finger. "What are we going to name her?" he asked.

"I was thinking Katherine, after my mother." She left off that she had been thinking it for about five or six months. There was no need for gloating.

"Katherine," Sylar repeated. "Do you feel like a Katherine?"

The baby gurgled, and Sylar nodded. "Katherine it is."

–

There was one parenting decision that none of the books helped with. When do you tell your child that she comes from a family of evolved humans and that she may someday develop what are commonly known as superpowers? Elle and Gabriel had differing opinions, and Elle had brought Peter into the discussion. It turned out that Peter agreed with Gabriel. It's better to wait.

They were all sitting around in the Grays' living room. Katherine, or Katie as she was now known, was sleeping in the other room. "Okay, correct me if I'm wrong," Elle said. "But didn't you throw yourself off a building because you thought you could fly."

As far as Gabriel was concerned that was an argument for not telling Katie until she was much older. He would have a heart attack if she threw herself off a building. Of course, he was imagining her doing that now, at eighteen months, when she had just mastered walking.

"I could fly," Peter said. "And as long as you don't tell Katie she's suffering from delusions of grandeur when it happens, you should be fine. Besides, didn't you burn down a house and cause a blackout when you were a child? Doesn't look like knowing did you much good."

Elle rolled her eyes. "That was only after I manifested. We'll have to tell her when she manifests, regardless."

Gabriel had known there was something different, even as a child. He did not know what it was, but he knew he was meant for more. On the other hand, even when he manifested, he was not aware that he had manifested. He had always been good at watches, and eventually he could see how other things worked too. He did not know that was an evolutionary advancement until he cut open Brian Davis's head.

It was not about the abilities for Gabriel. It was about the secret. Keeping something like that secret was a big burden to put on a child. They would have to explain if she manifested as a child, but why saddle her with that secret before it was necessary?

Elle turned to Gabriel. "What about Maya?"

That name surprised him. He had not heard about Maya in a long time, and it seemed like a strange moment for that jealousy to rear its head. "What about her?"

She gestured as though to say that he must remember. "She killed her entire village because she didn't know what she was capable of."

Gabriel remembered how tortured Maya was over that, and he felt sick at the thought of his baby going through something like that. He needed to be rational. "Knowing that she will develop an ability isn't going to prepare her for that if it's the one she gets." He stopped Elle from saying anything else. "I don't want to wait as long as Peter's parents did, but I don't want to tell her until she's old enough to handle it."

Elle seemed bothered by something, and Gabriel figured she was thinking about Maya poisoning all those people. It was a disturbing image. But instead, Elle said, "I do want her to have a normal childhood."

And just like that, an agreement was reached. They would tell Katie when she turns sixteen or when she manifests, whichever comes first.

–

"Mom! Katie's cheating!"

Elle put her hand to her head. She had decided that she did not want her daughter to be an only child like she was. Elle had such a lonely childhood. Gabriel half agreed with her; his childhood was not as lonely. There was one good thing about only children. Only children did not tattle to their parents. Michael was three years younger than Katie and quite a tattletale.

"I am not!"

Elle and Gabriel were in the kitchen, and their ten year old son ran in. "She is. I don't know how, but she told the thing to do something, and it did it."

Katie stayed where she was and yelled her side of the argument. "It was a glitch, and it just happened to happen when I said it."

"Three times?" Michael asked, incredulous. "The ninja was attacking her, and she told it to get away from her, and it did. And then she did it again and again. She's cheating!" He was really insistent that they believe him.

Elle did. She walked out of the kitchen. The video game was paused. "Katie, can you do something for me? I just want you to hold the controller and without pushing any buttons, tell it to unpause."

Katie stared back at Elle with an insolence and sass that she had most likely gotten from her mother. And the teen years had only just begun. "I'm not cheating."

Gabriel gave Katie a look and said her name in a very serious tone. He would never just tell Elle when the kids were lying; she had to figure it out from context clues. Katie sighed and balanced the controller on her hand. "Unpause."

Katie did not seem particularly surprised when the game started back up, although Michael started freaking out. "Keep going," Elle said. "Play without touching the buttons."

"Pause," Katie said quickly. "At all?"

Elle shrugged. "Yeah, why not? See if you can do it without speaking. Just think the commands."

The game unpaused without Katie saying a word. With a look of amazement on her face, she played for about ten seconds until it got too complicated and her player died.

"I knew it," Michael said. "She's a frakin' toaster."

Elle looked at Gabriel, knowing exactly who had introduced their son to Battlestar Galactica reruns. She turned back to Michael and Katie. "Don't call your sister a toaster. When did this start?"

"Today, I swear. It's just when it worked the first time, I did it again." Katie looked very concerned. "Am I really a Cylon?"

"There's no such thing as Cylons," Gabriel said kindly. "So no. But there is something we need to talk to the two of you about."

He gestured for Michael to sit on the couch, and once the boy had done that, Gabriel sat next to him. "Your mother and I..." He trailed off. "You know, I never got that talk. Elle, how does this go?"

Elle did not remember how her father had told her. She had never really been aware that it was something so strange until after she was much older. Both children were looking to her for answers. They really should have prepared for this better. "We can do things that are a little out of the ordinary. Special abilities, like being able to talk to machines, are an evolutionary development--"

"Like X-Men?" Michael interrupted.

Elle really wanted to tell her son that life was not like a comic book or science fiction show, but that would not be entirely accurate. "Yeah, kind of like X-Men."

--

**END**

–

–

**Author's Note:** And it's done! I've never written anything this long before. Again, everyone has been great, and I am open to questions about anything. Thank you and good night. (This feels really good.)


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